


Hey, Levi

by Pearlhart



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Growing Up, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of recreational druguse, Time Skips, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-08 03:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21469099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlhart/pseuds/Pearlhart
Summary: It is Halloween and Eren lets himself get talked into a Tarot reading by an enigmatic fortune teller. Guided by the cards' obtuse readings he meets a man in a green jacket, a man he knows like an old ally, even if he has never met him before.(Or, a sort of reincarnation AU where Levi is stuck herding a confused Eren once again.)
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 22
Kudos: 124





	Hey, Levi

**Author's Note:**

> I kinda just wanted to write a short, cute little reincarnation AU, but it ended up being 25k long. Oh well. 
> 
> The rating is due to certain situations that are more alluded to than explicit, but I wanted to be on the safe side.

**The Meeting**

The day is windy and grey, the clouds so heavy with rain they appear to be touching the ocean. The restless sea meets the ominous sky in a continuous painting of steely monochrome. The lack of colour should have made it dreary, but there is a scent in the air carrying with it an expectation; the promise of a storm and the changing of the seasons.

Cold and slightly shaking hands pulls the zipper of a tired and washed out jacket up to a hairless chin. Eren trails after the others as they race through the faire, high on cotton candy and fizzy drinks. He has been looking forward to the Autumn Faire all month, just like everyone else, but now that he's there he can't quite focus. His eyes keep being pulled towards the restless ocean and to the heavens with the dark clouds. It feels like he's looking for something, or rather, like he's waiting for something, but he doesn't know what.

Fern green eyes scan the stalls along their pathway where fairegoers try their luck on winning cheap stuffed toys. Screams from the rides reach him on the wind that's stinging his ears red and the smell of popcorn is even stronger than the salty sea air. What is he looking for? He doesn't know, but he hopes that he'll recognize it when he see it.

Mikasa walks next to him holding a huge stuffed seal that she won at one of the stalls. The worker had seemed more than a little miffed that she had gotten the grand prize without any apparent effort on her part. The red scarf she wears every winter has already been dug out of storage and donned, even though it looks rattier and rattier every year. Eren figures buying her a new one this Christmas would be a nice gift. It isn't often that they have the luxury of brand new clothes, after all. Most of what they wear are hand me downs or second-hand, a bit of a sore spot for Eren, though Mikasa doesn't seem to mind it.

“Check this out,” Connie calls back to the rest of the group. He has run ahead of everyone together with Sasha in search of the locally famous Jim's Fish&Chips that make Shiganshina's arguably best fries. It's rumoured to have a stall at this year's faire and they've been looking for it the past half an hour without any luck. The faire isn't all that big and Eren figures they have been fed the wrong information, but he isn't about to tell Sasha that. He values his life.

Eren and Mikasa catch up with the rest of the group to look at whatever it is Connie has found that warrants a stop. Looming at the end of the pier is a large tent fulfilling every “mad fortune teller at Halloween” cliché, starting with the purple colour of the canvas sheet, to the torches outside, as well as the ominous poster with the picture of a crystal ball and the text:

  
  


“**Madame Brzenska**

[See your Future]

Crystal Ball Readings $5 | Tarot Reading $4 | Palm Reading $3

Today [31.10] only!”

  
  


Eren leans in to read the smaller print underneath it all that's almost intelligible thanks to the wet sea air weathering the poster:_“__No money back if you're not satisfied with a bleak future. Only you can change your fate.”_

Well. Whatever.

Turning his back on the tent, Eren plans on heading into the faire proper again. He wants to have a go at the haunted house this year since he had been sick the last time. Then again, the haunted house is always better after dark.

And with friends. Not that he's scared or anything.

“I am not going in there,” Armin suddenly pipes up.

Eren's friends have all gathered like a group of windblown gawpers outside the entrance of the tent. Jean has a hand on Armin's shoulder and is pushing him forward, but the smaller boy has dug the heels of his well used Converse into the asphalt and is not budging.

“I am not wasting money on superstition, Jean,” Armin declares, and Jean finally gives up on bruteforcing him.

_“__You _believe in ghosts, don't you, Jaeger?” Jean says, instantly turning his attention from Armin to Eren, like a wolf scenting a wounded sheep. What was his fucking deal, anyway?

“Stop trying to divert the attention because you're scared,” Mikasa says from behind her scarf, giving Jean a level look and Jean lets out a sound that can only be described as a strangled gasp.

“I am not!” he denies hotly, “it's just I don't believe in this bullshit so it should be someone who does who goes!”

They all turn to stare at Eren who is standing there trying very hard not to shiver in his jacket that does absolutely nothing to keep the wind and wet sea at bay. At this point he'll go into the tent just to get out of the cold, though he doesn't have any money on him since he spent it on buying tickets for the stall where Mikasa had won her stuffed toy. And even if he did have money, he isn't about to waste it on something like this.

“I'll go if you guys pay,” he says and holds his hand out, noting idly that the tips of his fingers are bright red from the cold. This is going to be a long, cold winter and he better just get used to it, he figures.

With some grumbling and muttering Connie, Sasha, Jean and Armin pulls out the loose change they have in their pockets and slaps it into Eren's expecting hand. Together they've managed to dig up four dollars and three cents. Eren pockets the money, thinking that it could have been better spent buying a cheap dinner, before pulling back the flap of the tent and heading into the foreboding darkness.

When the darkness isn't yielding, Eren has a brief moment of panic, but quickly discovers the second flap and enters into a small and warmly lit room. It looks exactly like he had suspected it would. The floor is covered in thick carpets, crystals and other strange idols hang from the ceiling, and in the middle of the room dominates a round table dressed in several heavy tablecloths. There are no one else there.

“Uhm, hello?” Eren calls softly into the room before listening for a reply. It is disconcerting how quiet the stuffy little room is. Even the screams from the rides outside and the unrelenting waves of the ocean hitting against the pillars of the pier are muted.

“One moment!”

Curtains on the other end of the room moves to reveal a small, blonde woman with thick glasses. She is still chewing on something as she hurries out, adjusting her long skirts and patting a bit at her hair.

“Sorry,” she says as she sits down on one of the two chairs by the table. “It's been a quiet day so I figured I'd take a break.”

Eren mutely nods and stares at her. If the tent and the interiors of it had been exactly what he suspected, then she is _not_. She looks nothing like Eren imagines a person calling themselves Madame anything would present themselves. Her hair is short and businesslike, she's not wearing any jewellery and the way she moves is efficient rather than mysterious. It feels more like she's about to conduct an interview with him rather than read his fortune in cards.

“So! What can I help you with?” she asks and looks up at him. When Eren doesn't immediately move she snaps her fingers and points at the chair opposite her and Eren sits down quickly, afraid he'll get reprimanded if he doesn't.

“I have about four dollars,” he says and puls the coins out of his pocket. “I'll do whatever reading that can get me.”

Madame Brzenska clicks her tongue in disapproval at the heap of coins in his palm, but holds out her purse for him to deposit them. A few coins get stuck to his now sweaty palm and he has to pry them loose.

“That'll get you either a palm reading or a tarot reading,” Brzenska informs him and whisks the purse away somewhere on her person.

Eren considers the gross state of his palm and doesn't really want not force anyone to touch it, so he goes for the tarot reading.

“Wise choice,” Madame Brzenska nods and grabs another purse that had been lying inconspicuous to one side on the table. Out of it she pulls a stack of large cards and begins shuffling them with impressive speed. Her hands are small and how she manages to handle the cards in such a way is anyone's guess. After having swished the cards around she holds the deck out to him. “Take it and divide it three times. Don't look at the cards, then give it back to me.”

Eren does as he's told, surprised at the heft of the thick cards. They are nothing like the cheap playing cards they have at home and he is sure these must have cost a pretty penny. Feeling awed and slightly nervous that he's handling someone's livelihood like this, is only too glad to be handing them back to her.

“What do you want to know?” Brzenska asks, placing the deck in front of her with a palm flat down on the table on each side of it. The thick glasses of her spectacles makes her pale, blue eyes look nearly luminous in the muted light of the room.

“I dunno,” Eren shrugs honestly. He has absolutely no idea what a deck of cards could possibly tell him about anything.

“Alright,” Brzenska says easily, as if she expected just that type of response from him. “Let's do an easy one then. We can do a past, present and future reading, those are pretty popular.”

“Sure,” Eren bobs his head in agreement, though he's fairly certain he already know about his past and presense reasonably well. Perhaps he should have asked about his end of term results instead. Or better yet, which football teams to bet on. But then again, Brzenska probably gets a lot of those types of questions and Eren can understand if she wants to keep _that _to herself.

With an elegant swish of her hand, Madame Brzenska spreads the cards out in a fan in front of her, forming a half circle.

“Concentrate on something, be it a feeling, a wish or a desire, then pick three cards and lay them in front of you face down,” she instructs, “but don't reveal them just yet.”

The no nonsense attitude of Madame Brzenska is affecting Eren at this point, for which he is grateful. He doesn't think he'd be able to take this seriously if she had been murmuring mysteriously or waving crystals about. The mannerisms of the petite woman makes it clear that she wouldn't be doing this if she didn't think it was worth it.

With another nod, Eren tries his damnedest to concentrate on a feeling or a wish. What does he wish for? Straight A's, getting into the college of his dreams, getting a girlfriend... But those are all things everyone wishes for, right? And that's kinda lame. Eren wants to find something else, something that is only _his_.

Eren lets his mind wander to where it wants to go, his mind's eye conjuring up random images before eventually settling on a pair of wings. He doesn't know what they're supposed to be, but they're vivid and he focuses on them as he pulls out the three cards he has been instructed to. With a sort of solemn fastidiousness he only reserves for things he finds truly important, he places the heavy cards in front of himself before letting his hand rest in his lap. He feels slightly winded, like he has just finished a difficult physical task.

Madame Brzenska's eyebrows are drawn into a focused frown as she stares at the three cards now lying in front of Eren.

“Turn the one to your left over,” she instructs and Eren does as he is told.

On the card is a painting of a large tree sprouting up from the ground and at its base is a tower crumbling by the force of the roots. Tiny people are falling off the structure and something that looks like a twisted spine reaches towards the black sky. Eren has no idea what it means, but it looks ominous.

“The Tower,” Brzenska supplies, 'it is the absolute worst card to pick in the entire major arcana.'

“Oh,” Eren murmurs and deflates slightly. Of course he'd pull the cursed card. What else, honestly?

“But thankfully this signifies what has already happened in your past and not what will happen in the future,” Brzenska continues, unfazed. “You have survived a tragedy, a great upheaval and devastation in your short life. Many say that the crumbling of the tower represent the cracking of beliefs built on a foundation made of lies and deceit, and that the destruction of one thing calls for the creation of something new. The tree is often the symbol of growth, the tree of life and all that, but I don't hold much stock in such things. Sometimes death and chaos happen for no good reason, and you just have to do the best that you can with what you're given.”

Eren listens to her words and considers them carefully as he continues to stare at the card. The small people are wearing green cloaks. Something twisted and misshapen is still clinging to the walls of the tower, and it sort of looks like a monster. He tries not to show the shiver running down his spine.

“Let's see what concerns you in the present,” Brzenska urges.

Eren's hand feels like it weighs a ton when he lifts it to turn the second card around. A soft breath leaves him in relief when he looks at the new picture. It certainly looks a whole lot nicer. There is just a single man standing with his back turned to the viewer, his face shrouded in shadow. He's wearing a green cloak, the hood covering his head and rendering his appearance anonymous, but the lamp he's holding aloft in his hand gives a feeling of promise, the light shining onto a path in front of him.

“Ah, the Hermit,” Brzenska says and when Eren quickly glances up at her she has a tight smile on her lips. “You will encounter a lot of crossroads in your immediate future and experience a lot of growth, which is expected considering your age, really. This card indicates that you either have to withdraw into yourself in order to make the correct decisions, or you will meet someone who can guide you along the difficult paths. I am inclined to believe the latter, to be frank. Keep your mind open and grab the chance when it is offered to you.”

It stirs a memory, somewhere in the very depths of Eren's mind, but it's like trying to remember a hazy dream he had years ago. The type of dream where only the feeling remains in the morning. Softy, Eren trails his finger over the image of the green cloaked figure before turning over the last card without being prompted to do so. Brzenska actually laughs a quick, little laugh as they both lean over to look at the last painting.

“Two of Cups is in your future, my young friend, and it is the _romantic _card,” she says a tad smugly and gives him a wink. “You'll meet or be reunited with someone and it will lead to an immediate romantic understanding. The Two of Cups symbolises harmony and the fulfilment of each other, so it is a very good card as the Minor Arcana go.”

“Yeah?” Eren smiles what he is sure is a dopey smile as he looks at the two figures holding a cup. Like all the other small figures depicted on the cards these are also wearing green cloaks billowing in the wind. Staring at the small, painted image, Eren has to admit to himself that he certainly needs all the help he can get when it comes to love and dating. For the past two years now Eren has tried to muster the courage of asking his crush out, but so far she has just ran away whenever he's tried. At one point Eren ended up overhearing her complaining to Mikasa that he always looked constipated when they were alone together.

With a sigh at the memory, Eren leans back again in his chair and looks over the three cards in front of him: devastation in his past, growth right now and love in his future. Well, as far as fortunes went it isn't really the worst despite the rocky start.

“Give me your hand,” Brzenska orders and holds her own out in expectation of him heeding her words.

“Uh, I don't have any more money,” Eren tells her and sits up straight again, but Brzenska merely indicates impatiently for him to do as she has said.

Being slightly intimidated by the woman who is almost a head shorter than him, he puts his hand in her cold one. Instantly she drags it over to herself and begins tracing the lines of his palm. She mutters a bit to herself and pushes her heavy glasses up her nose again before she seemingly finds herself satisfied and lets go of him.

“I was right,” she nods briskly and begins gathering up the cards, “you'll be meeting someone in the very near future. You'll find him behind the wings.”

_Oh. Finally she's spouting the incomprehensible fortune telling nonsense expected of a Madame_, Eren thinks to himself as he gingerly gets up from the chair. He feels slightly dizzy and chalks it up to the air inside the tent being stuffy.

“Thanks,” he offers, feeling a bit weird that he gott a palm reading for free and wonders if he's supposed to be tipping. “That was pretty interesting.”

Brzenska stops her industrious cleaning of her workplace and looks up at him from above the rim of her glasses. “Yes, I thought so too. Farewell, Eren.”

Smiling and feeling relieved that the entire ordeal is over with, it isn't until the wind is pulling at his hair and he's squinting at the glum light of the day again that Eren remembers he hadn't introduced himself.

She must have heard them talking when they were standing outside her tent. Yes. That is surely it.

  
  


Eren's friends are gone. A lonely scrap of hot dog paper is making its way across the weatherbeaten asphalt and falls into the sea. Madame Brzenska's tent is located at the end of the pier where the winds thrown in from the sea are relentless and Eren knows that if he is to find his friends he has to head in to the main faire. Instead he turns towards the ocean. Transfixed, he steps over the low slung metal chains that indicates the end of the pier and the beginning of the docks where the ships heaves to.

The walkway is overrun by seagulls fighting over a discarded burger, their cries ringing fierce and desperate through the air. Eren walks through them knowing these ferocious birds could easily turn and attack and he hopes the food on the ground is enough of a distraction for them.

One of the birds must have gotten the prize for they are all suddenly in the air, screaming and flapping their wings, the beat of them so loud Eren has to put his hands over his frozen ears. Everything in front of him is white feathers and beating wings.

The roar of the birds dies down and when Eren finally dares to peer up, his eyes snags on something green moving in the wind. It's a jacket and the man who is wearing it stands facing the ocean, his back to Eren as he's waving a phone with undisguised aggression in his left hand. Eren can just about make out the man's profile and the sight of it stirs another memory. The ocean and grey sky disappears around him, replaced by tall trees and sun dappled canopies. It lasts for less than a breath but leaves Eren reeling on the dock.

“Levi!”

Wait, why had he called that name?

The man turns.

It _i__s _Levi. But who is Levi? The grey, wooden boards of the dock rushes up and Eren is dimly aware that he is falling before a strong hand grips his jacket. Blinking and shaking his head, Eren gingerly finds strength in his legs again and then he looks into eyes the same colour as the turbulent sea.

“Eren?” The man's voice is as familiar as his face, like Eren has seen him every day for years, yet Eren is unable to place him. He feared this man, but also revered him. Trust. Yes that is the word, Eren trusts this man. But why?

The hand that had been holding him up lets go, but Eren grabs it before the man, _Levi_, can retract it fully. It is even colder than Eren's and he kneads it to his chest. Levi's gaze snaps down to the clasped hands and a crease appears between his thin eyebrows before he returns his scrutiny to Eren's face. He doesn't attempt to remove his hand again.

Levi's inky hair is dripping with the water blowing in from the ocean and Eren's jacket sticks to his thin frame as he begins to shiver in earnest. His teeth are shattering, but Eren tries his hand at a smile regardless. It only earns him a raised eyebrow and Eren laughs because, somehow, he knew it would. Everything about this man, a perfect stranger, is telling Eren that he should keep a safe distance, but he knows, somewhere in the depths of his soul, that he is safe here with him.

“You know my name,” Eren says into the silence between them. He is trying so hard to understand what is happening, but the tighter he tries to hold the feeling the further it seems to slip away.

“And you know mine,” Levi returns unhelpfully. There is nothing in his expression that indicates anything but mild annoyance, but Eren knows instinctively that is how it should be.

Again Eren smiles. Wider this time, though he feels a tad self-conscious about his braces. Most of his friends have them, but this Levi guy is an adult and probably thinks Eren a bit of a child. The impression must be enhanced by the baggy clothing and a voice that, to Eren's mortification, still cracks once in a while. Eren had been one of the latest to enter puberty, only beaten by Armin, much to Jean's entertainment and Eren's chagrin.

How can Eren keep this man in his life? What can he possibly offer that would make sure Levi doesn't just disappear? Eren's smile falters. There are few things Eren is sure of, but the need to know Levi is one of them, and unless he does something this will just end up as a memory. A strange encounter that happened a chilly October day once.

“Can I have your number?” Eren asks and tightens his grip on the hand he's still clutching to his chest. He is half expecting Levi to backhand him or hit him up the head for his cheek. But there is merely a twitch at the corner of Levi's mouth that can almost be described as a smile.

“Ballsy as ever,” Levi affirms, his voice so low it barely carries over the roar of the ocean. The comment leaves them in a strained silence, confusion written large on both their faces. Eventually Levi continues, “I don't have a habit of giving random brats my number. That would look pretty sketchy.”

“I am not random,” Eren protests. He doesn't know how he can convince Levi that he _is__n't_ just a random crazy kid, though. He meant something to Levi, and Levi meant so much to him. Once.

The stranger seems to be reaching something of the same conclusion, the crease on his brow smoothing out and he finally looks away from Eren's face.

“Alright,” Levi grudgingly concedes and holds up the phone he's still clutching in his other hand. “Give me your number then, brat.”

Eren does and watches intently as Levi types it into his phone and a moment later he feels a buzz in his pocket. With effort, he manages to wrestle his frozen fingers into pulling out his phone and unlock the screen. The message simply reads “_brat_”. Laughing, Eren tries to save the number using only his left hand since his right is still holding onto Levi's in a cramp like grip.

“I won't let you go this time,” Eren promises and tries really hard to look like he is something more than just a wet and shivering kid clutching his phone and a stranger's hand like they are lifelines.

They're nearly at a height, though Eren is slightly taller, but the way Levi is looking at him it makes him feel small and vulnerable. Levi's lips are slightly parted and even though the crease has yet to return to his forehead, the way he is narrowing his eyes tells Eren that he is thinking furiously. Probably wondering how he got cajoled into giving his phone number to what lookes like a homeless kid out on the docks of Shiganshina fishing district. But Levi hasn't pulled away his hand.

“Eren!” someone calls, their voice tinny and weak on the wind. Levi's eyes shifts from Eren's face to whoever is behind him and Eren fights the urge to turn and look.

“What the fuck are you doing down there, dumbo?” Ah, Jean. He can wait.

“Friend of yours?” Levi asks critically, still eyeing Jean up on the pier.

'Sorta,' Eren admits. Jean is more Connie and Sasha's friend than his, really, but they always end up hanging together anyway. Eren suspects that Jean is just tagging along so that he can stare at Mikasa who consequently ignores him.

“There's an entire high school of kids up there gawking at you,” Levi informs him and Eren finally twists around to peer through the biting wind. There they are, his trusty friends, huddled together and staring like they've never seen Eren talk to another person before. Then again, that isn't too far from the truth.

“I have your number,” Eren nods, reminding himself more than Levi who furrows his brow, “so I'll call you.”

Levi lets out a breath in an annoyed huff, “of course I'd regret giving it to you.”

Eren just smiles because he knew Levi would say that. At least it hadn't been punctuated with a boot to his backside this time. Cocking his head in confusion at his own train of thoughts, Eren wonders where that vivid association came from. The cold hand clutched in his is carefully, but decidedly, pulled away and Eren can't stop the gasp of disappointment from leaving his frozen lips.

“Here,” Levi says and shrugs the large, green jacket off his shoulders before wrapping it around Eren. “You can't go around wearing only a tracksuit jacket. You'll die. Kids these days have no sense of survival.”

Standing completely still, Eren soaks in the warmth of the jacket and the faint smell of cologne and something else that he can't place. Levi is only wearing a grey cotton shirt underneath, but somehow he doesn't look cold at all.

“What about you?” Eren blurts, though he is already holding onto the jacket and wrapping it tighter around himself so that it won't fall off his shoulders.

“I have a car waiting for me,” Levi informs Eren and waves the hand holding the phone as if that explains it. “He's been waiting for a while, actually.”

“Oh,” is all Eren manages to say while Levi rummages around in the pocket of the gifted jacket and fishes out a set of keys.

“Take care, brat,” he nods and then starts walking away as if everything that just happened is normal. Like he isn't absolutely floored like Eren is. But then again, Levi has never been easily ruffled or discomposed.

Almost reverently, Eren puts his arms into the jacket and pulls it on properly, doing the zipper up all the way and basking in the warmth of it. It's a good jacket and it fits nicely. It's yet another hand me down for Eren, but it has been well taken care of and was almost brand new, the mossy green like a bright drop of colour in the otherwise so grey day.

“Who the fuck was that?”

Eren turns around and realises he's marvelled at the new jacket long enough for his ragtag bunch of friends to make their way down to him. Mikasa begins pulling at the jacket like she suspects a bomb to be secretly hidden in it. Armin looks worried, his large blue eyes peering up at Eren from behind his blonde fringe.

“That guy looked like some kinda mobster,” Connie comments, twinning his fingers and bracing them behind his head, looking back up towards the pier in case Levi is still standing there. “Like he just made someone swim with the fishes and ended up recruiting you or sumthink.”

“Levi didn't recruit me,” Eren huffs and stuffs his freezing fingers into the pockets. There is something there and he pulls it out. A packet of gum. Eucalyptus. For some reason it makes him happy to know that Levi could be doing something as normal as chewing eucalyptus gum. “I got his phone number though,” Eren offers, because to him it makes sense that someone who gives out their number that easily can't be affiliated with the mafia.

“You got his _what_?” Mikasa hisses and looks at him like he has actually sprouted a second head. She's clutching at her stuffed seal like it can somehow protect her from Eren's lack of judgement.

“Yep, definitely just recruited you,” Sasha decides. She's holding a greasy piece of newspaper with chips in it and Eren surmises that they must have found Jim's Fish&Chips.

“Eren, honestly,” Armin says and his voice cracks slightly at the end, his growing vocal chords not able to contain all the feelings he has in regards to Eren's idiotic choices.

“That guy was an actual adult,” Jean informs them all, as if they hadn't been able to see that themselves. “An adult who gave you his jacket and phone number. That doesn't strike you as creepy at all?”

“No,” Eren answers simply. It's just Levi, after all. Levi has always taken care of him, even though his methods could be rather unorthodox. Wait, where did that memory come from?

“You aren't actually going to keep in contact with him, are you?” Armin questions as they begin making their way up towards the faire again. Now that Eren is warm and toasty inside his jacket he doesn't mind walking around the grounds so much.

“I don't know,” Eren replies honestly and pops a piece of eucalyptus gum into his mouth. “I don't think Levi would appreciate me calling all the time, anyway.”

“You talk about this guy like you know him,” Jean says sceptically, holding out a hand for a piece of gum, but Eren shoves it into his pocket again. He isn't about to waste these gums on the likes of Jean. “Have you actually met him before?”

The question gives Eren pause. He wants to say yes, but he knows logically that he has never seen the man before in his life. But he had known at first sight that it had been Levi standing there on the windswept docks, almost like he had waited all that time.

  
  


Though that's ridiculous. Isn't it?

  
  


**Year 1**

  
  


**3 weeks later**

November

  
  


Eren is sitting on his bed and staring out the window into the cold winter night. Soft snow had began falling a week ago and he is more grateful now than ever for his new jacket. Everytime he's worn the jacket, Eren has been thinking of Levi, and now he's holding his phone up to his ear, listening to it chime. Several tense moments pass while Eren both want, and really _doesn't_ want, someone to pick up the phone on the other end.

Eventually Eren loses his bravado and is just about he to hang up when a click and a short burst of static precedes a familiar voice: “_What?__”_

“Hey... Levi?” Eren breathes the name almost like a question. He's been so nervous for this first call and the palms of his hands are soaked in sweat.

_“__Anything you need?”_ Levi asks after a moment of silence.

“Nah, I just wanted to talk,” Eren answers honestly and pulls at his socks. One of them has a hole in it. Various sounds are coming from the other end of the call. It sounds like something heavy is being pushed across a floor, endeding with a loud thump. “What are you doing?”

_“__Moving,” _Levi replies shortly followed by another thump, “_getting out of this fucking place_.”

Eren let's the statement hang between them for a while before murmuring, “you sound angry about it.”

_“__That's right_,” Levi concedes and there is another thump that ends with the sound of something breaking and clattering across the floor, “_I __**am**_ _fucking angry about it.__”_

“Is it... like a break up?” Eren doesn't know much about being an adult, but he has gleaned from movies and TV-series that break ups are usually what makes adults move out in anger.

_“__Yeah, it's like a break up.”_ Levi's voice is without inflection, deep and monotone.

Eren has never really dated anyone, much less broken up and moved out of their home, so he has no real idea what he should be saying about that. But something is telling him, no, _reminding _him, that Levi won't appreciate empty sympathies. So instead he starts talking about what he does know, which is school and video games. Levi doesn't say anything, merely grunts whenever Eren stops to take a breather to check if Levi is actually listening and hasn't just put the phone down somewhere.

On the other end Eren can still hear boxes being moved none too gently and he chats about how he finally managed to beat Jean in arm wrestling. His arm hurt pretty badly afterwards, but he's not about to tell Jean that.

_“__I knew a guy who broke his arm during an arm wrestling match,”_ Levi suddenly saus like he's finally tuning into the conversation.

“What?” Eren blurts, “how?”

_“__Don't know. He was being an ass so I slammed his arm down and it went out with a disgusting pop_.”

“You broke a man's arm?” Eren is unconsciously massaging his own as he imagines it.

_“__Yeah_.”

“Wow.”

Levi snorts and Eren feels really happy about that.

  
  


  
  


**2 weeks later**

December

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Yeah?_ _”_

“So there's this girl-” Eren is unable to continue because Levi actually groans on the other end. “Listen! There's this girl and-”

_“__No,”_ Levi interrupts again, “_I can't do that.”_

“I need to buy her something for Christmas!” Eren nearly yells into the phone, as if he somehow can keep Levi from just ending the call by being forceful enough.

_“__I am literally the worst person you could ask about this,”_ Levi informs him.

“But like, I really like her and I want to get her something, but I don't want her to think I got it for her because I like her, you know?”

_“_ _No, I really don't know._ _”_

“But you're like an adult, you must have gotten plenty of gifts for your girlfriends,” Eren reasons with the logic of a fifteen year old boy.

_“__Hanji!”_ Levi suddenly calls and Eren startles slightly. There is the sound of a distant voice on the other end in reply to Levi's yell. “_Do you like the gifts I give you for Christmas?__”_

_“__What gifts?”_ answers the other voice, decidedly closer to Levi now.

_“__Well there you are, Eren_,” Levi declares as if this has cleared up any misunderstandings.

“Is that your new girlfriend?” Eren asks, amazed that he is being included in Levi's life like this.

_“__He wants to know if you're my girlfriend_,” Levi says to the other person and there is a loud guffaw in reply. “_Hanji is pretending to shoot themselves as a better option than being my whatever,”_ Levi offers Eren as a mental image of what is going on at their end. Adults are bloody weird.

“Levi!” Eren whines, trying to get them back on track and stop being annoying. “What should I get her?”

_“__I don't fucking know_,” Levi answers, “_hang on, I am putting you on speaker_.”

_“__Hi Eren!”_ calls the other voice, sounding bright and happy, “_I am Hanji.__”_

“Hi Hanji,” Eren mumbles in reply, suddenly feeling shy.

_“__Eren wants to get a Christmas present for his future girlfriend,”_ Levi informs Hanji, who gasps in delight and Eren just wants to dig a deep hole and disappear in it.

“Levi,” he complains, “she's not my future girlfriend.” Thankfully this is just a phone call, because Eren is pretty certain Hanji is the type of person who'd laugh themselves silly looking at his bright red face.

Hanji immediately begins listing suggestions and asking questions about Christa, what she's like, what she enjoys doing and what kind of budget Eren is on. Levi acts as the mediator, shooting Hanji's more extreme suggestions down with force so that Eren doesn't have to. In the end they settle on getting her a giftcard at the movies. It isn't too expensive, though it's still a bit of a gamble since it's more than a tiny hint that maybe, just maybe, she should use that giftcard with Eren.

When they finally hang up Eren feels relieved. Not just because he has a pretty good idea of what he wants to get Christa, but because Levi had sounded so much happier than in their first call.

  
  


**2 weeks later**

Christmas Eve

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hey._ _”_

“Merry Christmas!”

_“_ _Yeah, merry Christmas, kid._ _”_

Eren is standing out on the patio outside their small house. He's full and warm after the Christmas dinner and looking forward to sleeping over at Armin's later that night. On the phone he can hear people calling and hollering as well as loud music.

“Are you at a party?” Eren asks curiously. He can't even imagine being at an age when he can do whatever he wants on Christmas and screw family expectations. Imagine _partying _on Christmas eve?

_“__Yeah, I am out with some friends_,” Levi confirms. There is a loud bang and some more hollering. In the background Eren can hear someone yelling, “_get back here birthday boy, don't be so anti-social_!”

_“__Gimme a moment!”_ Levi yells back, not bothering to remove the phone from the promiximity of his mouth and consequently making Eren wince.

“Your birthday, huh?” Eren smiles wide. “Happy birthday!”

_“__Thanks_,” Levi murmurs in reply. “_I am now officially ancient.__”_

“How old are you?” Eren has wanted to know for a while. To him Levi is just the vague age of “adult”, which really could mean whatever above twenty.

_“__Turning twenty six tomorrow,”_ Levi answers and takes a deep swig of something. Eren merely nods to himself because twenty six _is _pretty ancient, but he isn't about to say that to Levi.

“Alright then,” Eren concludes the short conversation, “merry Christmas and happy birthday, Levi!”

  
  


  
  


**1 week later**

New Year's Day

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“__It's ten in the fucking morning.”_ Levi sounds like he has died and just gotten dug out of his own grave again.

“Yeah?” Eren chuckles, “Mikasa forced me up an hour ago. Just wanted to wish you a happy New Year since you didn't answer yesterday.”

There is a long silence on the other end.

_“__Brat_,” Levi eventually mumbles, “_hold on_.” By the muffled sounds Eren guesses that Levi has put the phone down, but he can still hear the distinct noise of someone throwing their guts up. There is a muted “_fuck I wanna die_,” the flushing of a toilet and then running water.

Eren's New Years celebration had been him and his friends out in the park watching the fireworks and eating chicken wings from the bucket. Though he had heard rumours that some of the guys in his year had thrown a party and gotten completely wasted. Initially he had been a bit jealous that he hadn't been invited to that, feeling that he was now old enough to do such things, but by the sounds of Levi struggling over the toilet bowl Eren counts himself lucky. How can getting drunk ever be worth the aftermath?

_“__Yeah_,” Levi croaks into the phone again, “_happy New Year, kid_.”

Eren can't help but laugh a bit at Levi's obvious discomfort.

  
  


  
  


**3 weeks later**

January

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _What?_ _”_

“You busy?”

_“_ _Yeah._ _”_

“Doing what?”

_“_ _Work._ _”_

“What's your job, any way?”

_“_ _Fixing other people's shit._ _”_

“Oh... what?”

A heavy sigh. “_I am a personal assistant_.”

“That's a job?”

_“__Yeah, damned brat, that's a job. It's a never ending twenty four seven job. Fuck_.”

“You're angry again.”

_“__Yeah_.”

“I have a date though!”

A long silence in which all Eren can hear is the aggressive typing on a keyboard. He deflates a bit.

_“_ _With that Christmas girl?_ _”_

“Yep!”

_“_ _So it worked, huh?_ _”_

“Yeah, we're going to the movies.” Eren suddenly remembers why he had called in the first place. “What should I wear? Should I hold her hand? I mean, is this when we kiss? I have never kissed anyone before- don't tell anyone that. Should I like, keep tic tacs on me and not eat popcorn? Popcorn gets stuck in my braces and it's sort of nasty-”

Eren stops abruptly because Levi is laughing.

_“__Fucking hell kid_,” he laughs into the phone. “_Calm down_.”

“What was your first date like?” Eren wonders curiously. Doing some quick math, Eren surmises that Levi must have been his age like ten years ago. Did they even have mobile phones back then? Eren can't really imagine what people did ten years ago to have fun.

_“__My first date?”_ Levi muses and Eren listens to the continuous typing on the keyboard. “_Pretty sure my first date was a shared joint behind the police station. That's at least when I got my first kiss so I am counting it as my first date. It was nice.__”_

“You smoked weed behind the police station?” Eren echoes and tosses the shirt he had been inspecting onto the pile of rubbish clothes already on his desk chair. Another one with holes.

_“__Yeah, I was going out with the police commissioner's kid at the time_,” Levi reminisces, “_very good connection if you wanted to get your hands on the good stuff.__”_

“D'you still do that?” Eren asks cautiously. He doesn't want to sound lame, not to Levi, but drugs..._well_. He supposes weed isn't the worst thing one could be doing, though the way his teachers are going on about it then weed leads to stronger stuff and before you know it you're prostituting yourself in order to shoot up in some dingy back alley. Levi doesn't look like the type to do that. Like at all.

_“__Smoke weed? Yeah, once in a while if I can remember or be bothered to_,” Levi replies, sounding like it really isn't a big deal. Eren supposes it can't be, then.

“I don't have any clothes,” he sighs and throws yet another shirt full of holes onto the pile. “Christa is like, from a rich family and shit. I can't show up on our date looking like I'm homeless.”

_“__Don't you have any friends with clothes?”_ Levi asks, “_there was a whole gaggle of them at the faire. One of those got to have something you can wear.__”_

“Maybe,” Eren muses. Jean might have something decent. He's always nicely dressed, though probably all thanks to his mum. “But what if they make fun of me for asking?”

_“__Eren,”_ Levi groans and the incessant typing stopps for a moment, “_girlfriend stuff and dating really isn't my thing okay. I can't help you- though I might have a shirt you can borrow, how about that?__”_

“Really?” Eren gasps and nearly hits his head on the open closet door. Levi had been wearing a really nice shirt at the Autumn Faire, no creases or anything.

_“__Sure_.” Levi resumes his typing. “_Text me your address and I'll drop some clothes off tomorrow.__”_

“Thank youuuuu,” Eren gushes and proceeds to do just that.

  
  


  
  


**1 week later**

February

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“__Hm, hang on.”_ The murmur of several voices and the clinking of cutlery disappears only to be replaced by the distant noise of a restless city.

“You're out?” Eren wonders. He is sitting by his newly cleaned desk, thanks Mikasa, trying to do some homework, but he can't concentrate.

_“__Yeah, having dinner_.”

Eren peers over at the alarm on his nightstand: it is half past nine in the evening.

“Sorry for interrupting that,” he says, not feeling all that sorry. “Like a fancy dinner?”

_“__A bit too fancy for my tastes, yeah,”_ Levi affirms.

“Is it like.. a _date_?” Eren's eyes grows large imagining Levi talking to him on the phone while he's on a date.

_“__Yeah, a shit one_,” Levi murmurs. “_Thank fuck you called, actually, now I can pretend you're my dying mother or something_.”

Eren stops himself from giggling by slapping a hand over his mouth. That isn't funny.

“Wish someone had done that for me on _my _date,” he says when his laughing fit is over.

_“__Didn't go too well with Christmas girl_?”

“Nah,' Eren sighs, remembering the awfully awkward two hours at the movies. How could watching a movie possibly be that difficult? Yet it certainly had been. It had been nothing short of traumatic. “I sort of froze up and it was just weird.”

_“__Happens_,” Levi says as if he knows just all too well about shitty dates.

“Yeah, well...” Eren is doodling little spirals and stars on his worksheet. “She tried to kiss me and I was so shocked I started hiccuping into her face.”

_“__Ah, fuck_,” Levi murmurs in something that sounds like fake sympathy before he starts laughing softly.

“So I popped a tic tac in my mouth, figuring I'd give it another go,” Eren continues, enjoying listening to Levi's laughter far more than he cares about being embarrassed about the story. “But it got stuck in my throat and I started choking on it-” Eren pauses for dramatic effect, '-so poor Christa starts slapping me on my back, which should have been enough, but there was this guy behind us in the audience who decided he wanted to help as well. And this guy was _huge_,' Eren explains waving his available arm even if Levi can't see it, “and he grabbed me around the stomach to do the henrich?”

_“__Heimlich_,” Levi supplements between breathless chuckles because he's surely seeing where the story is going.

“Yeah, the heimlich, and his beefy arms just squeezed me and everything inside of me sort of just squirted out,” Eren has to stop because Levi's laughter is too infectious and he has to school himself before he can continue, “and right onto the girl in front of us. Popcorn, fizzy drinks, licorice, everything I had stuffed into my mouth the past hour was just running down her hair and she started screaming. And before I knew it the movie had stopped and the lights were on and we were being escorted out. There were sirens blaring, because someone called the cops thinking the girl was being murdered-”

_“__You're making this shit up!”_ Levi accuses him, wheezing with laughter.

“Nope!” Eren assures him, “the cops were there, and an ambulance, and they had me cuffed and in the car before Christa managed to convince them that I had, in fact, merely choked on a tic tac. So, that was my first date.”

There's some crackling and swearing on the other end for a moment before the line goes quiet.

_“__Fuck, I nearly lost my phone laughing_,” Levi explains, his breathing erratic like he's still fighting it.

_“__Levi?”_ Someone calls in the background, “_what are you- are you crying?__”_

_“__Yeah_,” Levi wheezes, “_my mum is, uh, sick?__”_

Eren can't help the peals of laughter that escapes him and it sets Levi off again.

  
  


  
  


**8 weeks later**

March

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Yeah?_ _”_

“What're you up to?”

_“_ _Just got back from the gym and I'm about to ruin the last sweaty hour with some beer and a burger._ _”_

“The gym? Like, you go and lift weights and stuff?”

_“_ _Yeah, that's pretty much what goes down at the gym._ _”_

“Wow. All I do is play football. Did you play any sports in school?”

_“__No, I wasn't really a team player type of person.”_ The sounds of a can being opened and crinkling of paper. “_Fuck why are fries so good?”_ Levi questions rhetorically.

“Because the capitalists wants us to get fat and complacent so we won't complain when they use us like cattle.”

_“_ _What the fuck?_ _”_

“I don't know, Armin has gotten really into politics lately and talks about this Max guy all the time.”

_“_ _Karl Marx?_ _”_

“I guess?”

_“_ _Damn._ _”_

“Is that a bad thing? I can't really tell, Armin uses a lot of clever words and I just nod along.”

Some more crinkling of paper and soft, unobtrusive chewing.

_“__It wouldn't hurt you to read some of the things he reads, y'know. Not saying they're necessarily right, but making up your own opinion is always good_.”

“Read something that's not for school? I don't know if I can be bothered.”

_“_ _Up to you._ _”_

“Anyway!” Eren cheers up as he remembers what he had been meaning to talk to Levi about. “It's my birthday in a week!”

_“_ _Imagine that. How old are you now? Ten?_ _”_

“Fuck you. I'm turning sixteen.”

_“_ _Basically the same._ _”_

“No it's not! I can start working on my driver's license and everything.”

_“_ _You can afford that?_ _”_

Deflation. “Ugh no, I guess not really.”

There is a lull in their conversation while Eren listens to Levi eat and drink his beer. There are low voices in the background that he assumes belong to a television.

_“__If you're turning sixteen you can start applying for jobs though_,” Levi offers.

“A job, huh?”

_“_ _Yeah._ _”_

“Then I'd get money!”

_“_ _That's the general idea of it, yeah. Capitalism and all that shit._ _”_

“Awh yeah, then I can buy all the new games and I don't have to wait until Armin is done with the comics before I can read them.”

_“_ _Sure you're not ten?_ _”_

“Fuck you, Levi.”

  
  


**2 weeks later**

April

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hi. One second, I'll call you back._ _”_

The line goes dead and Eren sits staring at his beaten up phone. He had inherited it from his foster dad when he got a new one for work, but at least it's functional, if outdated. Mikasa had been phoneless for almost half a year before she got a new one for her birthday. She had been chewing on anything she could get her hands on with a frenzy in withdrawals while everyone else sat checking their social media and messages. “Worst six months of my life,” Mikasa admitted to Eren, which said a lot considering the type of shit she had gone through with her last foster family.

Eren can hear muted music coming through the wall from her room and knows that she's probably busy reading or drawing. They don't really hang out much when they're at home together, but it always feels good knowing she's just doing her thing in peace on the other side of the wall. Their situation isn't perfect, but it's so, _so _much better than what it used to be.

Eren is comfortable in his pyjama bottoms and oversized t-shirt, flipping through the latest pile of comics he borrowed from Armin when Levi finally calls back.

“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hi kid. What did you want?_ _”_

“Some advice, actually.”

_“_ _From me?_ _”_

“Yeah! I have a job interview tomorrow!”

_“_ _Really? Congrats, kid. Nice going._ _”_

“Heh, thanks.” Eren grins from ear to ear. He hasn't gotten the job yet, but just getting the interview feels like a victory. “I need someone brutally honest. Everyone keeps telling me I should just “be myself” and “do my best”, but being myself haven't really given me much so far, so I figured I'd call you instead.”

_“__Ah, fuck. Well...”_ Levi is silent for a long while. “_Since you're basically just ten and an extrovert then being yourself isn't the worst you could do, to be honest. People don't start wanting you to be someone else until you're a bit older. What type of job is it?__”_

“I'm_sixteen_. And it's just restocking and shit at the local grocery store, nothing big.”

_“_ _Eh, I guess you could just tell them that school comes first, but that you're really happy to get the job or something. Adults hate it if kids don't prioritise school._ _”_

“Sounds like you're speaking from experience.”

A soft laugh. “_Yeah.__”_

“I am nervous though, I really want this job. I need the money.” Eren sighs. “Like really bad.”

The silence lasts for so long Eren worries they have disconnected. Looking at his screen informs him that the conversation is still going.

“Levi?”

_“__Hey kid. Yeah, don't worry about it. You'll get the job_.”

“How do you know?”

_“_ _Just call it a hunch. I have a way with these things, after all._ _”_

“W-what?”

_“__I'm just fucking with you_.”

“Uh...”

_“_ _Good luck tomorrow._ _”_

  
  


**2 months later**

June

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hm._ _”_

“You busy?”

_“_ _Just work shit._ _”_

“You're still a personal assistant?”

_“_ _Yeah._ _”_

“What even _is _that, exactly?”

Levi sighs on the other end, followed by the sound of a fridge opening and the clinking of glass before liquid is being poured.

_“__It basically means I make sure that my employer keeps his appointments and is always one step ahead of everyone else, at all times_.”

“Oh. Is your employer an important guy? Like a politician or something?”

_“__Well, __**he**_ _likes to think he's important. And yes, he is in fact a politician. And a lawyer. Basically the worst type of person.__”_

“Do you like your job?”

_“_ _Not really._ _”_

“Do you like your employer?”

There is clinking of glass and the soft sound of Levi swallowing. He doesn't reply for a long while and Eren has his fists clenched in the blankets underneath him. His pillow is wet with tears and snot.

_“_ _I like him well enough to keep this shitty job, at any rate._ _”_

“Oh.”

_“_ _What is going on, Eren?_ _”_

The sound of Eren's name in Levi's deep voice has a barely suppressed sob choking out of him.

“Do you- uhh..” Eren takes another deep breath. It feels like the air is getting stuck in his chest and can't quite reach his lungs. “Do you hate gays? Like, do you mind them?”

_“__If I hate gays?”_ Levi questions in return, a slight note of confusion in his otherwise so deadpan intonation. “_Why the fuck would I hate gays?__”_

“I dunno,” Eren sniffs. “Jean said that being gay sucks because no one likes them, and that they can't get proper jobs and shit.”

_“_ _Why does that concern you?_ _”_

“I dunno.”

_“_ _Eren-_ _”_

“I dunno! Okay?” Eren yells into the phone that he's barely able to hold because his cheeks are wet with tears and his palms are clammy. “I dunno,” he chokes again, because he _doesn't _know, and he's terrified Levi will grow tired of him and hang up before he figures it out.

_“__Well, that Jean guy sounds like a closet case if I've ever heard one,”_ Levi mutters.

Eren just breathes out a wet sigh full of tears and saliva. He's so exhausted.

“You didn't answer my question,” Eren reminds Levi. The lethargy has claimed him and it feels like he's drifting somewhere just above his own and mind and body. Distanced from it all. Apathetic to it.

_“__If I hate gay people?”_ Levi asks again and Eren murmurs a confirming noise. “_No I don't hate gay people. That would be the dumbest shit ever.__”_

“Do you know anyone who is gay?” Eren questions further. The only one Eren knows of is that one senior guy who always wears the pride flag like a sash around his waist. And Ymir in his own class who is pretty vocal about liking girls, but besides that... Levi's huffing laughter brings Eren out of his thoughts.

_“__At this point I don't think I know any __**straight**_ _people_,” Levi murmurs.

“Uh?” Eren questions unintelligently. That sounds like some sort of weird sitcom phrase.

_“__High school is awful,”_ Levi declares, and while Eren agrees, he doesn't really know what that has to do with anything. “_No one knows shit about themselves and everyone are scared. It gets better when you get older.__”_

“Yeah, old people tend to say that,” Eren mutters. He isn't sure he believes it. How can twenty six be all that different from sixteen?

_“__Old? Watch your mouth, brat,”_ Levi growls, but it doesn't sound like there is any actual anger in his voice.

“Tell me, then, about your gay friends?” Eren pleads.

_“__Well,”_ Levi begins and Eren can hear the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and more liquid being poured into a glass, “_th__er__e's Hanji, who you've been introduced to before, who is ace. Then there is Isabel, Farlan, Petra and Olou who are all pan or bi. Erwin, Mike and Nana are gay. Really, there's only Gunther who claims he's straight, but we're all sort of doubting that to be honest. We think he's just saying that to feel unique.__”_

A small laught escapes Eren and the tightness in his chest lightens marginally.

“You're bullying the straight guy?” He asks incredulously.

_“__Not bullying, just teasing_.”

“How did you meet them?” Eren only knows people from school and his football team and it's hard to imagine any other way to meet people. People who are different.

_“__I grew up with Isabel and Farlan back in England,”_ Levi divulges and takes Eren by further surprise. Levi doesn't tend to be this chatty, either in phone calls, messages or the few times Eren has met him in real life. Eren soaks it all up greedily. “_Hanji I met through Erwin. Really, I met most of my friends through Erwin_,” Levi explains before he grows quiet again. “_Though how I met Erwin was a bit of a mess... He picked me up, strung out of my mind behind a club one night and took me home for some inexplicable reason. Said he'd kept an eye on me for a while, which creeped me the fuck out... but it turned out he was alright.__”_

“Were... were you and Erwin boyfriends?” Eren asks in a quiet whisper, both too curious not to and terrified he's overstepping his boundaries. It feels like his own salvation is hanging on Levi's answer. Because if _Levi_ likes guys then... then it can't be all that bad?

_“__We were for a while after that,”_ Levi confirms and every cell in Eren's body quickens. There it is. Levi likes men. Levi is gay. Levi who is so cool, with a proper job and an apartment and who goes on dates and lives an adult's life, and he is _gay_.

“O- oh,” is all Eren manages to stutter, but his tears has dried up and the sporadic thumping of his heart eases. “Good night, Levi.”

_“__Good night_.”

Eren has a lot to think about.

  
  


**3 weeks later**

July

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hey, kid._ _”_

“I want to quit my job.”

_“_ _Why?_ _”_

“My boss fucking sucks. He's such an asshole.”

_“Most bosses are.”_

“Yeah, well, mine is especially worst.”

_“_ _He actually expects you to meet up on time and not sit on your phone all day?_ _”_

“No, like-” Eren thumps the ground with a clenched fist. He's sitting out on the nearby empty parking lot watching the racers drive around in circles in their pimped out cars, a can of beer by his side. He snatched it from the fridge at home knowing it's not gonna be miss it. This particular call can't be made at home in his bedroom just in case Mikasa hears and so he snuck out. “-Like, Mikasa started working at the store not long after me, right, since we both need money really bad and that was fine and all. She's a good worker and won't let me fuck around and she's really _good_. Yet our boss is just a fucking tool towards her.”

Eren is so angry he has to take a long swig of his beer and thump a bit more at the asphalt. The low rumbling of the engines and the screeching of tires calms him down somewhat. He can't wait until he gets a licence and his own car, though that goal seems ages and ages away.

_“__What does your boss do or say?”_ Levi asks. His voice is low, quiet, but Eren knows he is pissed. How he knows, he isn't sure, because so far he hasn't seen Levi really angry. Annoyed, sure, vexed, certainly, but not pissed. Not like this.

“He like... keeps on bumping into her, and makes lewd comments like pointing at the playboy magazines and commenting on the ladies to her. And he keeps on talking shit every time we have Asian customers. Shit like '_ah they're going to buy out our entire stock of noodles again_' or '_just you wait, they'll start haggle the two for three deal we have on chicken_'. I just want to fucking punch him in the fucking throat.”

_“And Mikasa, what does she say?_ _”_

“That's the worst part,” Eren yells and is mortified to find that the impotency of his anger is turning into tears. “She just shrugs and says it doesn't matter. That the job and the pay is more important. That fucking asshole is just going to get away with it because we're fucking poor kids and we need the job.”

_“__Eren,”_ Levi says, his voice deathly calm. A shiver runs down Eren's spine. “_Here is what is happening. You'll keep doing your job and keep out of his way-__”_

“But!”

_“__\- 'cus you __**are**_ _fucken' poor kids with nuthink going on and you won't recover from being reported to the bloody pigs for sockin' that fucken' cunt in the face. Play it smart, bellend.__”_

Eren's mouth is hanging slightly open. What the fuck?

“Okay,” he breathes in reply, for what else is there to say? Levi has knocked the wind out of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Eren wonders if the reason Levi doesn't talk much is because he doesn't want _that, _whatever that had been_, _to come out.

  
  


  
  


**2 week later**

July

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hi._ _”_

“My boss was taken away by the police today.”

_“_ _Imagine._ _”_

“For embezzlement, Hannes said. He's a cop so he would know.”

_“_ _Hannes?_ _”_

“My foster dad.”

_“_ _Alright._ _”_

“So... Are you mafia?”

_“_ _Hm? No._ _”_

“Connie said you might be.”

_“_ _Connie is full of shit._ _”_

“That's something someone in the mafia would say.”

_“_ _Sometimes karma just happens the right way._ _”_

“You just need to make the right call, is that it?”

_“_ _Something like that, kid._ _”_

“Thanks, Levi.”

_“_ _Don't mention it._ _”_

  
  


**1 month later**

August

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Brat._ _”_

“I have something to tell you! Are you sitting down?”

_“_ _Yeah._ _”_

“Are you prepared?”

_“_ _Should I get something to drink?_ _”_

“Yeah, get a beer or something.”

Eren listens inently to Levi moving around in what he assumes is his apartment. There is the opening of the fridge door and the clinking of a bottle.

_“_ _Alright, I am seated and with a beer. What's your news?_ _”_

“Are you listening?”

_“_ _Yeah._ _”_

“You sure? You don't have me on speaker or anything and, like, looking at your laptop and whatever?”

_“__What the fuck.”_ Some scraping and Levi's voice is suddenly much closer. “_You're off speaker, happy?__”_

“Yeah. Alright. Listen.”

_“_ _I am listening._ _”_

“Good.”

A long silence.

_“_ _Kid? Spit it out for fuck's sake._ _”_

“I'm gay!”

_“_ _Yeah? You had me sit down for this?_ _”_

“You're the first person I've told, Levi.”

_“_ _Really?_ _”_

“Yeah.”

There is another lapse of time in which neither of them speaks, but it doesn't feel like silence, rather it is loaded with so much it's the opposite of quiet. Eren doesn't know what he expected to happen when he told Levi that he was gay, something that has taken him months to come to terms with, but now he feels breathless waiting for a reply.

_“_ _Congratulations, Eren, and welcome out of the closet. It's less stuffy out here._ _”_

With effort, Eren manages to drag in a lungful of air, but it's released again in a slightly hysterical giggle and tears fall from his face in quiet streams.

“Yeah, thanks,” Eren laughs, because the tears are happy ones and even if he might never manage to work up the guts to tell anyone else but Levi, the words are out there in the world, and someone has heard them and accepted them.

  
  


  
  


**3 months later**

October

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _What?_ _”_

“Happy one year anniversary!”

_“_ _Huh._ _”_

“You remember right? We met one year ago in two days.”

_“_ _How do you remember that?_ _”_

“Because it is the easiest day to remember? Halloween?”

_“_ _Ah shit, I guess it is._ _”_

“You're not going to a Halloween party or anything?”

_“_ _Nah, I am swamped with work._ _”_

“I was gonna dress up as Jack from _Nightmare Before Christmas_, but then fucking Jean stole the idea.”

_“_ _Fucking Jean._ _”_

“Yeah.”

Eren pushes the sheet with calculus further away from himself and scowls at it. He hates calculus. He hates being asked questions people already knows the answers to, it makes no sense to him. Absolute waste of time having him learn this when a calculator will always do a better job, anyway.

“Now I don't know what I'm gonna go as,” Eren confesses. “Do you have any ideas?”

_“_ _Huh._ _”_

“Levi, are you even listening?”

_“_ _Not really._ _”_

“Ugh, well here's for another year I guess.” Eren internally winces at the whiny note in his voice and hopes Levi hasn't noticed. Sure, he's a bit disappointed that Levi doesn't care about anything he has to say today, but that's Levi. Sometimes he's surprisingly attentive, other times Eren can't drag two words out of him. But Levi must have heard Eren's sullen tone because he sighs deeply on the other end.

_“__Sorry, Eren,”_ he says in that flat voice of his. He can be annoyed, angry or actually sorry, it's impossible to know. “_I've been in a pissy mood the last week.__”_

“Is that why you haven't really answered any of my messages?”

_“Yeah, it is just better to stay away when I'm like this._ _”_

“Is there anything I can do?”

_“_ _No. It will pass with time._ _”_

“Alright...”

Eren is doodling an elephant, a sun and some stars on his work sheet while he waits for Levi to either say something more or hang up. It's always a gamble what it ends up being.

_“__Why not one-up fucking Jean with an even better Jack costume?”_ Levi eventually suggests and Eren chuckles darkly.

“That would piss him off real bad,” Eren conceds.

_“__And that's the entire point of Halloween, isn't it, to piss off your friends_.”

“For sure,” Eren laughs and the heavy feeling in his chest lightens. He always hates it when his conversations with Levi turns rocky.

_“__I gotta go now, though_,” Levi says. “_Happy anniversary or whatever.__”_

“Yeah, or whatever,” Eren returns fondly.

  
  


  
  


**2 days later**

Halloween

  
  


“Hey, Levi!”

_“_ _It's fucking three in the morning you asshole._ _”_

“But you're awake aren't you, Levi my guy, my homie?”

_“_ _Ugh, you're drunk. Are ten year olds allowed to drink now?_ _”_

“I am sixteen, Levi, _sixteen_! Only two more years and I'm allowed to vote!”

_“_ _Jesus, I can't believe children are allowed to vote these days._ _”_

“Leeevi, you're such an ass.”

_“_ _You had to get drunk to realise that?_ _”_

“Nah, you're not an ass. You're very nice, actually.”

_“_ _Whatever._ _”_

“It's truuuueeee. You're nice, and very pretty. Anyone ever told you that you're pretty before?”

_“_ _No._ _”_

“What?! Why not?”

_“_ _I don't think I give off the vibes for people to find me 'pretty'._ _”_

“Pffft, stupid them. You're so pretty though, like, you got the prettiest eyes. They're all silvery like stars and your hair is black as night.”

_“I am so going to use this conversation as blackmail later.”_

“What do you mean? Hey, fuck off Mikasa I am talking- no you can't talk with Levi. Hey fuck, that's my phone Mik-”

“Hello, is this Levi?”

_“_ _Yes, hello._ _”_

“Sorry, Eren somehow managed to down an entire bottle of Jack Daniels when I wasn't looking.”

_“_ _He's gonna enjoy that tomorrow._ _”_

“Let me talk to Levi, Mika! I was telling him how pretty he is and he doesn't believe me.”

“I think he got the gist, Eren. Armin, take Eren away he's probably gonna spill his guts soon.”

_“_ _How're you brats getting home?_ _”_

“About that, I wanted to ask you a favour. Hannes always says we should sleep it off instead of trying to go home drunk, but it's pretty stuffed with people here. Lots of older guys I don't know-”

_“_ _I get it._ _”_

“I wouldn't ask except I don't really know anyone else so-”

_“_ _It's fine. Sleep is for idiots anyway. I'll pick you guys up._ _”_

“Thanks Levi. And I'll apologise beforehand for whatever bullshit Eren is gonna say to you later.”

_“_ _Hah, yeah._ _”_

  
  


  
  


**Year 2**

  
  


**2 months later**

Christmas

  
  


“Hey, Levi!”

_“_ _Good morning. I am not Levi though. He's busy right now._ _”_

“Wha- who're you?”

_“_ _My name is Erwin._ _”_

Shock settles over Eren and he leans back against the wall with a thump. He's sitting in bed in his stripy pyjama bottoms and the new sweater that he got from Mikasa for Christmas that very morning. It's a dark grey, knitted sweater that actually fits him perfectly. She said it made his shoulders look broader so Eren isn't about to take it off any time soon.

But calling Levi and hearing someone else answer the call has his good mood turning sour. There's something familiar about the name Erwin and Eren wrecks his brain trying to remember what Levi might have told him about this person. Eventually he remembers.

“You're Levi's ex, right?”

_“__Wha-”_ now it's Erwin's turn to be taken off guard. “_I suppose you could say that... in a way,”_ he eventually volunteers.

“In a way?” Eren prods. Adults are always so convoluted in regards to their relations to each other. But Eren isn't stupid. It's nine in the morning on Christmas morning and Erwin answered Levi's phone, so obviously Levi is either at his apartment or vice versa. “Either you are, or you aren't.”

_“__You're that Eric kid, right?”_ Erwin asks in return, probably realising that this conversation isn't going to end all that easily.

“Eren, not Eric, and not a kid either,” Eren mutters. What's this Erwin guy's deal, anyway? If it's over between him and Levi, why is he still skulking about? “Will Levi be busy for a long time? I was gonna wish him happy birthday.”

_“_ _He's in the shower right now, so it might be a while._ _”_

“Fine, I'll wait.”

_“_ _I could tell him to call you back when he's done._ _”_

“I don't think so,” Eren declares, “I don't trust you to tell him.”

Erwin emits a noise sounding like something in between a “_huh_” and an “_eh?_” followed by strained silence.

“So! Have you known Levi long?” Eren asks casually, plucking at a loose thread on his pyjama bottom. Soft snowflakes are falling outside and his foster parents are still sound asleep. The house is quiet, though he can hear faint sounds from Mikasa's room. He'd gotten her some scented candles, a book and a set of pencils that she had wanted for Christmas. It feels good to have money to actually buy her proper stuff for once. The joy they had both felt that morning as they handed over carefully wrapped presents bought with the money earned at their job had been in the true Christmas spirit. Eren understood people's willingness to throw so much money at their friends and family now, he wants to see that happy smile on Mikasa's face always.

_“__Four or five years now, maybe,”_ Erwin eventually replies, sounding grudging as if he doesn't really want to divulge the information but can't think of a reason not to.

“Did you ask him to work for you before or after you broke up?”

_“_ _How do you know-_ _”_

_“_ _Who are you talking to on my phone, Erwin?_ _”_

_“__It's that Eric kid,”_ Erwin answers, sounding far away as if he's holding the phone away from his ear.

_“__Who is Eric?”_ Levi inquires, sounding even more muffled. Eren has to strain really hard to hear the conversation between them.

_“__I don't remember his name, something hipstery,”_ Erwin mutters. “_He wants to talk to you, anyway.__”_

Some scratching and then Levi's voice, “_Eren?__”_

“Yeah,” Eren murmurs, suddenly feeling like he's interrupting something between two adults and that he is, in fact, just a kid. Levi never makes him feel this way even if he keeps calling him a brat. Normally Eren tends to forget that Levi is so much older than him.

_“__What did you say to Erwin? I never get to see him this ticked off,”_ Levi questions, a slight chuckle in his voice.

“I asked if he became your employer before or after you broke up,” Eren confesses, because he's still slightly smug for having made this Erwin fellow dumbstruck.

_“__Ah fuck,”_ Levi swears, actually laughing now, “_after, __**way**_ _after.__”_

“Good to know... Anyway!” Eren collects himself again. He made the call for a reason. “Happy birthday, Levi! How old are you now? Three years from thirty?”

_“_ _Fuck you._ _”_

“Found any grey hairs yet, grandpa?” Eren teases, laughing when Levi continues to swear at him. “Have you opened my present yet?”

_“__Not yet,”_ Levi grumbles.

“Open it!”

The gift that Eren had received from Levi that year is lying on his desk. It's a couple of new notebooks with good paper and a binder for his worksheets that he keeps on losing. An annoyingly practical gift, but Eren supposes he's happy he doesn't have to use his own money on such boring things now.

Eren had spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out what he wanted to give Levi. The man just has everything he could possibly need, including all the fun stuff that takes Eren ages to save up for, and when he'd asked what Levi could want he'd just replied that he didn't want anything. Adults are a real drag.

_“__Alright... let's see where in this pile of- oh all of __**one**_ _gift, thanks Erwin, yours might be.__”_

“You've only gotten one birthday present?” Eren gasps, horrified. What kind of friends does Levi have, anyway?

_“__You're impossible to buy for_,” Erwin shouts in the background.

Eren hears some crinkling of paper and holds his breath. Either Levi will love it or he will absolutely hate it, and Eren really, really hopes he'll understand the humour behind it and not take it the wrong way.

_“__Huh,”_ Levi mutters and there's a long silence interrupted by a sudden snort. “_If I was a sixteen year old girl I'd think you were trying to make me your sweetheart.__”_

“Fuck off,” Eren laughs, relieved that Levi seems to be getting the joke.

'”_I especially like the glittery writing declaring me 'your pretty star boy' on the front of the photo album,”_ Levi continues, his voice flat, but if Eren had been able to see him now, he knows that there would be slight creases at the corner of Levi's eyes in surpressed humour. “_The hearts around the pictures with me in is a nice touch. When did we take these?__”_

“I took most of them last time we went bowling for Armin's birthday, remember?” It had been a fun night that wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for Hanji. Without them Levi would never have agreed to go bowling with three sixteen year olds, but Hanji had been adamant. Armin had still been rather sick from the Halloween party when his birthday rolled around a few days later and wanted a quiet night with just a few friends. Eren had been surprised when Armin suggested Levi come with them to go bowling, but it turned out that he hadn't been the only one who had instinctively taken to the grumpy, older man.

_“__Ah yes, that night where you almost cried because you lost so badly,”_ Levi reminisce.

“Shut up!” Eren laughs. How the hell had he been supposed to know that both Levi and Mikasa are natural born bowlers, if that even is a thing.

_“__And look at that, two movie tickets as well_,” Levi drawls. “_Does this make me your Christmas girl this year?__”_

“Only if you want to be,” Eren says chivalrously. “I promise I won't eat any tic tacs this time.”

_“__You better not, I automatically puke when I smell vomit_,” Levi warns.

_“__What the fuck?”_ Erwin's deep voice questions in the background and they burst out laughing.

  
  


  
  


**1 month later**

January

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hanji is visiting, just so you're warned._ _”_

Eren can hear a faint “_heyo Eren!”_ in the background.

“Heya Hanji!” he yells back and is rewarded with a sigh and a sharp click of the tongue from Levi.

_“__What d'you want?”_ Levi questions impatiently and Eren feels some of the guts he spent the last hour building up drain out of him again.

“Well if Hanji is there it can wait... I sort of wanted to talk about stuff, so-”

_“_ _That's fine, I've seen this movie a hundred times already. Hang on._ _”_

The blare of the television disappears and there's a click of a door shutting and Eren is assuming Levi has gone into the bedroom. Eren has only been to Levi's apartment once, but it's pretty much what he'd expected it to be: unnaturally clean and sparsely furnished, though Levi's selection of tea is surprisingly large.

_“__What's going on, kid?_” Levi asks and Eren feels grateful that this taciturn man even bothers to give him the time of day. There is nothing about Levi that especially encourages late night telephone calls talking about teenage drama, rather quite the opposite in fact, and yet it is Levi's number that Eren keeps on calling.

“So... like... uhm. How do you... you know-” Eren begins, unable to actually articulate what it is that he wants to know.

_“_ _No, I don't know unless you manage to string a coherent sentence together._ _”_

Huffing out an impatient breath at himself, Eren tries again. “You're gay, right?”

_“__That is an established fact, yes_,” Levi replies. His voice is deadpan as it usually tends to be unless he's moved to incredible anger or humour, but the slightest softening of his intonation tells Eren that he's listening now.

“So there's this guy,” Eren continues, “that just transferred to our school and I sort of, you know, like him, but I have no idea if he's even into guys? I was just... how the fuck do you know? You know? When do you know to ask a guy out?”

Eren is sitting by his desk and aggressively doodling in the notebook Levi got him for Christmas. Not for the first time does he wish that he's straight, that whatever had been between him and Christa had been real, and that he'll never have to navigate the murky waters that is being gay. Is he gonna be forced to gamble for the rest of his life? Praying that he asks the right guy and doesn't get a punch in the face for his effots?

Reiner, Eren's partner on their latest biology project, is nice. Like, really _nice_. They've been studying together in the library, they've eaten lunch together every day, they've saved each others numbers and text lame memes all the time. If Reiner was a girl Eren would have been pretty sure they were flirting but- what if Reiner is just being nice? What if Eren asks and he doesn't want to be friends anymore?

_“__He doesn't give off any vibes?”_ Levi asks, making Eren stop his scribbling as he furrows his brow in thought.

“Vibes? What do you mean?”

_“__Ah, it's a bit difficult to describe,”_ Levi mutters and another long silence passes while he presumably tries to gather his thoughts. “_Usually when you become interested in someone it's because there are mutual vibes like eye contact lasting a bit too long, standing a bit too close, hugging a bit too long, brushing hands together, you know, __**vibes**__.__”_

“Uh,” Eren utters unintelligently and a hot flush spreads across his face. He remembers the moment when he handed Reiner his book to check some notes and Reiner's fingers brushed his. He did not move them away. Rather their eyes had met over the book and Reiner had smiled at him. That had been the moment when Eren first started thinking about Reiner _differently_. “Maybe?” he squeaks, his gut coiling around and he knows for a fact that he never felt anything like _this _with Christa.

_“__You could try a safe date_,” Levi suggests, as if Eren even knows what a safe date is.

“Remember the only gay person I know is you, I don't know what any of this means,” Eren sighs in exasperation, though he isn't truly annoyed because his heart is fluttering and he's feeling excited. The dread and uncertainty he'd felt in regards to Reiner is shifting into a vague sense of expectation.

_“ __The only gay person that_ _you know of,”_ Levi corrects. “_A safe date is asking someone out without calling it a date. A 'want to get a coffee and chat?' or a 'I need to buy a new hat, want to come along?'”_

“A hat?”

_“_ _Whatever the fuck you want._ _”_

“Huh.” Eren thinks it through. Sure, he can ask Reiner to come along and buy a new pair of gloves or something. They can go out and eat after and just hang and talk in a place that isn't school. Yeah, that would be great actually. It isn't weird to ask a new friend to go do something like that and if there aren't any of these “vibes” Levi talks about then no harm done, Eren can just pretend he didn't hope for something more.

“Thanks Levi!” he chirps, excited about what all this can mean for him. He hasn't really gone on any dates or tried to kiss anyone since the disaster with Christa and now he's imagining all kinds of scenarios with Reiner. He wonders what it's like to kiss someone taller and bigger than himself, and whether the scruff on Reiner's chin will tickle or scratch. Without realising that it's bubbling in him, Eren hears himself giggle in delight and quickly slaps a hand over his mouth and hopes Levi didn't catch that.

The derisive scoff on the other end tells him that he certainly did.

  
  


  
  


**Three weeks later**

Valentine's Day

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hrn._ _”_

“Were you sleeping?”

_“_ _Uh... yeah, I'm sleeping._ _”_

“Wow, I didn't know you even could sleep.”

_“__Fuck you_.”

_“__Who're you talking to, Levi?”_ another sleepy voice mumbles on the other end and Eren hears some scuffling noises.

_“__I'm talking to Eren,”_ Levi replies to whoever it is that had questioned him.

_“__Eren?”_ The stranger's voice sounds a lot more alert and sharp and Eren can't help but wonder who this is. Levi hasn't told him that he's dating anyone new, but then Levi rarely updates Eren on his personal life. It's a sort of one way street, that.

_“__A friend of mine,”_ Levi replies dismissively. Even Eren recognizes the warning edge in Levi's voice, the one that signals that he's at the end of his patience and will snap if you push it any further.

This new boyfriend or whatever hasn't gotten the memo though, because he continues with a disbelieving, “_really now?__”_

Levi growls a “_fuck off_,” punctuated with the snap of a door shutting.

“You know if I disturb you, you can just hang up on me right?” Eren says in a small voice, feeling absolutely shit after having heard the entire exchange.

_“__It's fine,”_ Levi mutters quietly, probably not wanting to be overheard, “_I hate the jealous type so it's better to discover that tendency early on.__”_

“Oh,” Eren mumbls, “I was just going to tell you something really stupid, though.”

_“__Don't you always?” _Levi scoffs. “_Fuck, it's cold in this apartment. Where the fuck did that asshole put my clothes... I can only find one sock.__”_

“What are you doing?”

_“_ _Going home, what did you think?_ _”_

“Just like that?”

_“_ _Yeah._ _”_

“Won't he be mad?”

_“__I don't give one single fuck what he'll be,”_ Levi mutters and there's the sound of ruffling fabric and the clinking of a belt. The imagery conjured by those sounds has Eren blushing bright red and his heart stutters to a momentary halt when he feels his body's reaction to them. _Oh fuck no_. He can't believe he's growing hard listening to Levi getting dressed.

A loud bang on the other end of the call has both Levi and Eren letting out twin gasps of surprise.

_“__Are you seriously leaving?”_ that other someone asks incredulously.

_“__Yeah,”_ Levi confirms, not a trace of emotion in his voice.

_“__Why?”_ The voice sounds closer now, intense, but it doesn't seem like Levi deigns the question with a reply.

_“__Get the fuck out of my way,”_ he growls instead and Eren clutches the phone tighter in his sweaty hand. He's getting really nervous listening to this.

_“__You can't just leave,”_ the stranger states.

_“__If you don't move I'll punch you in the face,”_ Levi hisses and he makes good on his promise for merely a second later and Eren can hear flesh connecting to flesh and a guttural howl of pain.

“Levi! Levi are you alright?” Eren is near yelling into his phone, clutching it so hard to his ear he's afraid he'll break it. He can't afford a new one. “Fuck, should I call the police?”

_“__I'm fine kid, chill,”_ Levi replies quietly.

Hurried thumps announce Mikasa's arrival at his door seconds before it opens and her messy hair and bleary eyes peers in at him. It's dark in his room and Mikasa throws the door wide to let in some light so that she can look at him properly.

“Are you alright?” she asks in a worried whisper. “I heard you yelling.”

“I am fine,” Eren whispers urgently back. “I uh, I'm talking to Levi on the phone.”

“In the middle of the fucking night?” Mikasa asks, and even if her face is cast in shadow he can see the grimace of confusion.

“Yeah, well, I couldn't sleep so...”

“That guy is way too patient with you,” Mikasa sighs with a heavy roll of the eyes before shutting the door quietly behind herself again.

_“__Fuck, it's cold as santa's balls outside,”_ Levi mutters, drawing Eren's attention back to him.

“Did you just punch that guy?” Eren asks incredulously.

_“__Yeah,”_ Levi confirms and Eren can almost imagine how his hot breath fogs in the frozen night air. “_He was a lousy lay anyway.__”_

“You're so fucking badass,” Eren gushes almost breathlessly. Levi is so fucking cool with his proper job and apartment and just having sex with random people and if he doesn't like them he just punches them, casual as all that.

Levi clicks his tongue, but Eren can swear he hears a soft chuckle regardless. “_Don't idolize violence, brat,”_ he chides. “_What did you call about, anyway?__”_

“Oh,” Eren deflates again. This was embarrassing. “It wasn't anything,” he quickly states, “it was nothing, just something silly.”

_“_ _Well I am out walking and freezing my balls off instead of in a warm bed, so you better spit it out._ _”_

“Ugh,” Eren groans and leans his forehead onto his knobbly knees. “I just wanted to tell you that my safe date with Reiner actually turned into a proper Valentine's date.” His face is hot with embarrassment and he pushes it further into his legs, feeling the washed out flannel against his burning skin. He had just wanted to talk about it, but instead of sending a message or waiting for tomorrow he'd gone ahead and ruined Levi's Valentine's instead.

_“__Did you kiss?”_ Levi asks suggestively and Eren squawks, quickly slapping a hand over his mouth to trap the giggle that's bubbling inside him.

“Yeah,” he eventually manages to confirm when he feels that he has some semblance of control over himself again.

_“__And you didn't throw up on someone afterwards?”_ Levi continues to prod. Eren disguises his laugh as a huff of annoyance. He'll never live that down.

“I didn't throw up,” he confirms, “it was actually really nice.”

_“__Braces didn't get tangled or anything?”_ Levi is being mean, but Eren supposes he deserves the teasing considering the previous events.

“Fuck you,” he giggles, his face still warm with the blush.

  
  


  
  


**1 month later**

March

  
  


“Hey, Levi- ah _fuck_.”

_“_ _What's going on?_ _”_

“They're-” Eren begins, but has to stop because his voice is getting choked up again. He's never had a panic attack before, but he's pretty certain he's bordering on having one now.

_“__What?”_ Levi sounds both annoyed and impatient.

“They're getting a divorce,” Eren eventually manages to spit out. He's staring at Mikasa sitting on his bed, she is pale and her hands are clenching his bedsheets. Even if she isn't pacing or shouting he knows that she's just as scared as he is.

**“**_**Who **__is getting a divorce?”_ Levi questions further. There are some rustling of paper on his side and the squeak of a chair being shoved across the floor.

“Our foster parents,” Eren explains in a mere whisper. This can't be happening. But of course it is. Things had been going so well for so long, obviously something had to give eventually. They can't just be safe and happy and merely worrying about getting passable grades in school.

_“__You have to elaborate,”_ Levi says, his deep voice calm and collected as always. Eren takes a deep breath and clenches his eyes shut, trying to mimic some of Levi's coolness.

“Alright,” he agrees, nodding even if Mikasa is the only one who can see him. She's staring at him with her black eyes imploring him to make Levi understand, make Levi realise he has to help them. They have no one else to turn to.

“Our foster parents are getting a divorce, which means they will split and the house will be sold and we'll be pulled back into the foster care system, and then we'll-” Eren stops himself when he hears his voice take on a note of hysteria. Levi is quiet on the other end, letting Eren take his time to collect himself again. “The foster care system doesn't give a shit about where we end up. They split up biological siblings all the time so they won't even think twice about placing us in separate households.”

_“__Hang on, that can't be right_,” Levi mutters, “_you must have some rights?__”_

Eren merely laughs. It is a humourless sound. He feels the hope drain out of him. If he can't rouse Levi to action then what chance do they have?

“The state's only concern is whether we have a roof over our heads and some food in our bellies, the rest they don't give a shit about. The less paperwork for them, the better. We could end up in a new foster home or an institution and it could be on completely different sides of the country. I can't- Levi, I fucking _can't _do this again.' Eren tries to take another breath, but it gets stuck in his throat and it turns into a loud, shuddering gasp of pain instead. “I can't lose my family again.”

There's a soft whimper from the bed and when he looks over at Mikasa he can see her cheeks shiny with tears. Few things moves his sister, but now Eren watches her shake with the same fear that he is.

_“__I'll make some calls,”_ Levi says sharply and the call disconnects.

Eren stares at his phone with his mouth hanging slightly open, stunned for a moment out of his panic.

“What did he say?” Mikasa asks in a wobbly whisper.

“Just that he'll make some calls.”

Mikasa's face distorts into a painful grimace mirroring the raging confusion in Eren.

“We'll just have to wait for now,” Eren muses, though everything in him rebels at the thought. They can run away. Pack their things and head out on their own. Maybe Armin's parents will let them stay for a while. Eren turns seventeen in just a week, which is pretty fucking close to eighteen and legal. If his fucking foster parents could just stick together for one more year they won't be in this mess.

Dejected, deflated and exhausted, Eren sits down on the bed next to Mikasa. He'll give Levi twenty four hours to get back to him, then he'll take matters into his own hands.

  
  


  
  


**1 day later**

March

  
  


_“_ _Hey, Eren._ _”_

“Levi!”

_“_ _I've made some calls and Erwin has agreed to represent you as legal advisor and lawyer, but we have a few other options to try before it comes to that._ _”_

“Uh- what? Isn't Erwin like a big deal?”

Levi huffs out a short laugh. “_Don't tell him that, his ego is big enough as it is.__”_

“I saw him on TV the other day, Levi,” Eren says seriously, as if Levi doesn't know who is own friend and employer is, “he's like, _famous _famous.”

_“__Did you want to hear your options or no?”_ Levi questions impatiently and Eren hurries over to his desk to pick up pen and paper, feeling that this is the type of call that needs notes.

“Shoot,” he tells Levi eagerly. With Erwin on their team they can't lose, they just can't.

_“__I talked to your foster father yesterday_,” Levi says, surprising Eren enough that he loses his pen, but continues on before Eren can say anything, “_and he told me he would be interested in keeping both you and Mikasa even if he divorces his wife-__”_

“He said that?” Eren whispers, his throat feeling tight and painful suddenly.

_“_ _Yes. And that is our first point of attack. As you said, the state doesn't like paperwork if it can get out of it, so the less they have to do, the better. Erwin will draft up a letter of application for you, stating that the three of you wish to remain in the foster care system. Of course, the child protection services won't agree to this if proper housing is not provided for, but Mr. Hannes said he was working on it.”_

“Levi...” Eren can feel his legs start to shake and manages to sit down in his rickety desk chair before he fall to the floor. Nothing is certain yet but there is hope, there are options, someone is fighting for them. Levi, Erwin and Hannes are all fighting for them.

_“_ _Hm?_ _”_

“Thank you.”

_“__Don't thank me yet_,” Levi says, clipped, “_Erwin will be in contact with you all in the coming days.__”_

  
  


  
  


**1 week later**

March

  
  


  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hey, Eren._ _”_

“Erwin just left. Holy shit, he's huge!”

_“_ _In more ways than one._ _”_

“What?”

_“_ _Nothing. How did it go?_ _”_

“I think it went well? I didn't get much of what they were talking about but somehow Erwin managed to convince our foster mum to give up the house to Hannes in exchange for something. So at least that's settled now.”

_“_ _That certainly sounds like good news._ _”_

“Yeah!”

_“_ _And Eren?_ _”_

“What?”

_“_ _Happy birthday._ _”_

“Wha- oh! It's my birthday today! Fuck I forgot.”

_“_ _How does it feel to be twelve? Almost a big boy now._ _”_

“Fuck you.”

_“_ _Hey, watch the language or you won't get your birthday present._ _”_

“My present? What is it?”

_“_ _Apologise and you might get it._ _”_

“Fuck, _Levi_. Ugh, I'm sorry I swore at you even though you swear all the goddamned time?”

_“_ _That's right, twelve year olds don't get to swear._ _”_

“Fu- ughh.”

_“_ _Tsk._ _”_

“What's the present?”

_“_ _Nothing too exciting, just my time, expertise and extreme patience._ _”_

“So, nothing then, since those things don't exist?”

_“_ _And there it went, no present for you._ _”_

“What? No, Levi, I was joking! Come on!”

_“_ _Fine. I'll teach you how to drive and I'll pay for your lisence._ _”_

“What?”

_“_ _Did I stutter?_ _”_

“Holy shitballs, Levi...”

_“_ _Your language really has gotten crasser._ _”_

“Learned from the best.”

_“_ _Damn straight. You happy?_ _”_

“You have no fucking idea.”

Eren hangs up he spends some time wiping his tears and blowing his nose, though the huge grin on his face can't be wiped away.

  
  


  
  


**Six weeks later**

May

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hi._ _”_

“The person from social services was just here and had Hannes sign a whole bunch of papers,” Eren gushes as stands in the now eerily empty living room together with Mikasa, holding the phone in his hand between them. Hannes' soon to be ex wife had taken most of the furniture with her when she moved out a week ago, and there is a dull echo in the room.

“Hannes said Erwin deserve all the fame he gets on telly because he's scary and magical,” Mikasa adds, “and that it was nothing short of a miracle that he managed to make the bureaucratic mess go so smoothly.”

The call is on speaker and they're both so excited they can't contain themselves. Armin is shuffling around in the kitchen, busy making a celebratory cake.

_“_ _Are you telling me that everything is fixed and you can stay where you are?”_

“Yes!” Eren and Mikasa yell in unison, eliciting a grouchy “_ow, fuck_” from Levi at their volume.

“We're baking a cake and ordering pizza,” Eren informs him, “everyone are coming over to celebrate! Even fucking Jean.”

_“__Fucking Jean,”_ Levi agrees loyally.

“Yeah!”

“Why don't you come over, Levi?” Mikasa asks sweetly, even batting her eyelashes fruitlessly at the phone.

_“__I__'__m a bit busy,”_ Levi rejects.

“Please?” Eren pleads, now that Mikasa has given him the idea he knows that there is nothing he wants more in the world than to give Levi a proper hug and a thank you.

“Mikasa, can you help me out here?” Armin calls with a slight panic in his voice from the kitchen and Eren can see black smoke oozing from the oven. Well, maybe just pizza then. In a flurry Mikasa is gone, busy opening windows and helping a squealing Armin.

“Hey, Levi?” Eren asks quietly, taking the call off speaker now that it's just the two of them.

_“_ _Yeah?_ _”_

“Will you please come?”

_“_ _Sure._ _”_

“Hey, Levi?”

_“_ _What?_ _”_

“I love you.”

Perhaps Eren should be embarrassed to say those words, but he isn't. He knows they are true. He loves Levi. This stranger he found out on the pier a year and a half ago who without any reason has helped him and Mikasa over and over again.

_“__Want me to come over or not?”_ Levi mutters quietly, making Eren smile.

  
  


  
  


**Four weeks later**

June

  
  


“Hey, Levi...”

_“__Hi, kid. What's going on?”_ Levi sounds slurred and sleepy and Eren prays he hasn't been drinking. It's Saturday after all, so the chances are high.

“Nothing much,” Eren lies, pulling the thin fabric of his t-shirt tighter around himself. It's in the middle of June, but it's late and he's cold.

_“__It tends to be something when you call me at four in the morning,”_ Levi points out. “_And why are you whispering?__”_

“Uh,” Eren hesitates and looks over at the sleeping figure in the bed. A warm knot forms in his stomach and he feels both jittery and slightly nauseous at the same time. It's a strange sensation. “Well, I followed Reiner home after the party and... I dunno. I just feel weird. I dunno what to do.”

_“__Huh,”_ Levi grunts, then realisation seems to hit him, '_your first time?__”_

Eren nods, mostly to himself, before replying audibly, “yeah.” His cheeks flushes hot and he can't really say why. Levi has always treated sex as a completely normal thing to talk about between them, but for some reason it's just different when it's his own experience. He feels sore and raw, both emotionally and physically.

_“__Then go back to bed?”_ Levi suggests, “_you've been dating Reiner for what, four months now? No reason to do the walk of shame.”_

“No, I know,” Eren agrees, still wringing his t-shirt. He can't really find the words to express himself at the moment. He rarely can. “But I can't sleep and I feel restless. I don't want to wake him. I dunno. It's not supposed to be like this, is it? Am I not supposed to be just happy?”

_“__Why would you be happy?”_ Levi questions in turn, surprising Eren into finally letting go of his shirt.

“I always figured losing your virginity would be... cool. Well it was cool, but.. I thought it would be cooler?” Eren flounders as he makes his way over to the door and opens it quietly. He has to get out of here. It doesn't escape his notice that he's copying Levi's attitude towards his lovers and wonders if it's a good or bad influence. Whatever it is, Eren feels a bit of the weight on his chest eases once he's out in the hallway and sneaking his way downstairs. “Were you happy when you lost yours?”

_“__No,”_ Levi scoffs, sounding slightly more awake now.

“Want to get waffles with me?” Eren questions, trying to hold his phone between his shoulder and cheek as he bends down to tie his sneakers.

_“__You're seriously ditching your boyfriend after you slept together for the first time to have waffles?”_ Levi questions, a slight tinge of disgust in his voice. Despite being a slippery eel at the first sign of emotional dependence himself, Eren learned early on that Levi hates any cowardice in other people. Or perhaps Eren has always known. One of those inexplicable intuitions they seem to share about each other that can't really be explained and so they have never discussed it.

“Yeah,” Eren confirms, “waffles with you. I know of a place that should be open still.”

_“__You're messed up, kid,”_ Levi sighs, but the rustling of sheets is telling Eren that he's on his way.

  
  


  
  


**Three weeks later**

July

  
  


“HEY, LEVI!”

_“__For fuck's sake_.”

“Sorry, sorry, didn't know I was shouting.”

_“_ _You got to stop calling me when you're drunk._ _”_

“But I wanna talk to you, Leviii.”

_“_ _I am hanging up._ _”_

“No! Please don't. I'll try and act sober.”

_“_ _Good luck with that._ _”_

“Mika and I got Sasha a new deep fryer for her birthday and she started crying.”

_“_ _I'd cry too if someone gave me kitchenware for my seventeenth birthday._ _”_

“Haha yeah, except Sasha was really, really happy about it.”

_“__You got some fucked up friends_.”

“Tell me about it. What did you do for your seventeeth birthday?”

_“_ _Can't really remember. Probably snuck out with Iza and Furlan or something._ _”_

“Huh, you always make it sound like your parents didn't give two shits about you.”

_“_ _They didn't, they were dead._ _”_

“What? You never told me that...”

_“_ _It's not much to tell. You of all people know that._ _”_

“Yeah I suppose. Dead parents suck, though.”

_“_ _Maybe. I guess._ _”_

“You didn't stay in foster care?”

_“_ _No, I was just fine at the institution. I got my own room and all._ _”_

“Wow really? When I stayed there one summer before I ended up with Hannes and Mika I had to share with three other kids. It was awful.”

_“__When you stay long enough you get certain privileges._'

“Fuck, my happy buzz is turning into a sad buzz now.”

_“_ _Don't be an idiot._ _”_

“I'm not, I just... I dunno. Wish we grew up together or something.”

_“_ _And what? Get up to all kinds of shit together instead?_ _”_

“Heh, yeah. It would probably have been bad. At least now you can bail me out of the worst of it, right?”

_“_ _And what else is new._ _”_

“Hey, Levi?”

_“_ _What?_ _”_

“It will be better this time- we'll get a better end this time around.”

“…”

“You know that, right?”

_“_ _You've been smoking too much, kid._ _”_

“Strong coming from you, but yeah.”

_“_ _Text me when you're ready to head home._ _”_

“I will. Love you.”

  
  


  
  


**Two months later**

September

  
  


“Hey, Levi?”

_“_ _Yeah?_ _”_

“What did you study at college?”

_“_ _Didn't go._ _”_

“You didn't go to college?”

_“_ _No._ _”_

“Why not?”

_“_ _Couldn't really afford it... and didn't really want to at the time, either._ _”_

“Why not?”

_“_ _Brat._ _”_

“I have this stupid fucking survey I have to fill out about what I want to be, or whatever, for our guidance councelor to help us with our applications for college later and... I just really don't know. So why didn't you want to go?”

The thick pamphlet that Eren is supposed to fill in is already covered in doodles, even before he made up his mind to call Levi for some input. Mikasa and Armin has already filled in theirs and seems nonplussed at his hesitation.

_“__I was already making quite a bit of money and couldn't see the point of it,”_ Levi admits. “_Besides, I considered college to be for bratty rich kids who were too dumb to make it on their own.__”_

“Wow, harsh,” Eren laughs and doodles an elephant in a corner. He has filled in all of three lines: his name, age and school.

_“_ _I still stand by it._ _”_

“So you wouldn't want to go back and take some courses now?”

_“_ _No. Hanji studied at the university for over ten years and you see how they turned out._ _”_

Eren can't help his guffaw. Levi has a point.

“Both Armin and Mikasa are pretty adamant at going,” Eren says with a sigh. All of his friends have some type of plan for when they graduate high, even Sasha and Connie. They're going to open some type of food place together. Eren hasn't really gotten the details, but they seem excited about it.

_“_ _So, you don't even want to go at all?_ _”_

“I dunno...” Eren heaves another sigh. “I'd never get into their colleges, anyway, both of them are top of their class. I mean, listen to this, Armin is debate captain and president of the student body and Mikasa is junior champion in Judo and her coaches are saying she'll be ready to enter the Olympics soon. I average a grade of C in most classes except P.E. What fucking college will I get into, anyway?”

_“_ _Are you telling me you'll fuck over higher education simply because you can't hang onto your friends?”_

Eren had excepted nothing less than being ridiculed for his indecision, so he takes it in stride.

“Sorta, yeah?” he admits. “I don't really want to go just to go, so the only reason I'd apply would be to get some more years with them...”

_“__It's not like they die or disappear just because you go to different colleges,”_ Levi points out. “_Or do you think so little of your friendships that you think distance will destroy them?__”_

The pen that had been scraping into the paper repetitively until it broke through it suddenly stops as Eren lets those words sink in.

“No...” he says at length. “I don't think _they'll _stop trying to keep in contact with me.”

_“__Ah_.”

It isn't even a word, just a sound, but it holds so much judgement Eren wants to squirm in his seat.

“I'm not very good at... reaching out I guess,” Eren mumbles. It isn't just Mikasa and Armin, it's everyone. If Reiner wasn't constantly texting him and asking Eren out, he's pretty sure their rocky relationship would have ended a long time ago. Eren is never the one to instigate it whenever their group of friends meet. As of late he's felt like he's just standing on the sidelines most of the time, watching his friends hang out and having a good time. He loves them, but it's just so hard to connect. To take the time.

_“__You call and text me often enough,”_ Levi points out.

“That's true,” Eren smiles and perks up a bit. Maybe he isn't completely hopeless, after all. “You never call _me _though.”

_“__I can't call a twelve year old, that would be weird,” _Levi deadpans and Eren leanesback in his seat with a groan.

“I'm eighteen in a few months, so lay off old man!” he shoots back with an easy laugh.

_“__About this survey of yours?”_ Levi prods, forcing the conversation back on track.

“Yeah, it's asking me shit like '_what type of job do you like to do_?' Like, the only job I've ever had is at the local grocery shop. I don't know what type of jobs I like! How does anyone know what type of job they like when they've never worked before?” Eren throws down his pen in exasperation. How had Armin and Mikasa already filled out this shit? Do they have some secret knowledge that he doesn't? Some mysterious insight into how these things work?

_“__Well, if we use the process of elimination then we can safely assume that 'store clerk' is off your list of jobs that you want in your adult life,”_ Levi drawls, already sounding bored of the topic. Eren ignores the tone.

“And this next question, '_what are you good at_?' What the fuck? I am not good at anything! Am I supposed to be good at anything? I am seventeen!”

_“_ _I thought you were practically eighteen?_ _”_

“Fuck you.”

_“_ _Eren, unlike you, I have an adult job and I better be going back to it._ _”_

“No! I am sorry, I am not mad at you I'm just... frustrated at this. It feels like there's something wrong with me that I don't get it.”

_“_ _There's nothing wrong with you, alright? Some people just always focus on the future, but you haven't really had that luxury. You've been busy focusing on staying afloat in the here and now. Give it time. Let it stew. Get back to that shitty survey in a couple of months._ _”_

Levi's rational and logical points has Eren's innate impatience growing and he growls in frustration. Levi is right, of course he's right, he usually is, but this is the rest of his life they're talking about. And all his friends are getting on this train while he's still faffing about.

“I just wish... I was more like Mikasa. Focused and smart. She's been through more shit than me, yet she has everything figured out.”

_“__Life tends to catch up with people eventually,”_ Levi says cryptically. “_The earlier you experience failure the earlier you learn that you don't die from it. It will help you later.__”_

“I can't imagine not being a failure, ever,” Eren whines and cringes at himself. Levi deems his complaint worthy of a derisive click of his tongue. He's getting impatient again.

Shaking himself by the scruff, Eren shoves the abused survey away from himself resolutely. “Alright,” he agrees, “I'll let this shit be and try again around Christmas.”

_“_ _Good. You could also try to speak with Hanji about it, they've spent more time at the University than any person I know._ _”_

“I'll give them a call, sure,” Eren smiles, feeling lighter already for having pushed the burden away for now. “Wanna catch a movie or something?”

_“__Can't, Erwin is preparing a charity gala and I have to schedule the fucking thing. I am __**this**_ _close to strangling the first rich asshole I see.__”_

“Those moneybags giving you a hard time?”

_“_ _Like you wouldn't believe. Each and every one of them seem to think they're important enough to influence the proceedings. They can't not be seen at the gala, it being a high profiled charity and all, but neither do they want to inconvenience themselves. Fucking dipshits. Speaking of, just got a mail from Mrs. Reiss wondering whether she can bring her pet dog despite it being a no animal locale. Give me strength._ _”_

Eren can't help but snort at Levi's vexed monologue.

“I'm putting personal assistant under the list of 'jobs I really don't want,'” Eren snickers and is rewarded with a mock growl.

  
  


  
  


**Six weeks later**

Halloween

  
  


“Hey, Levi!”

_“_ _Hey there, Eren._ _”_

_“__Who are you talking to?”_ Hanji's unmistakable voice filters through the call.

_“__Talking to Eren,”_ Levi replies. There's some scuffling and an “_ooph_” indicating that Hanji just got forcefully pushed away.

_“__Who is Eren?” __wonders_ a third, female voice.

_“__For fuck's sake, can't a guy talk on the phone in peace?”_ Levi mutters and Eren has to stifle his laughter so he can listen more carefully to everything that goes on in the background. A male voice says something which the female voice answers to, “_Levi is talking to some guy on the phone.__”_

_“__It's Eren!”_ Hanji chimes in helpfully. “_Levi, put him on speaker.__”_

_“_ _I am not going to put him on speaker._ _”_

“I don't mind being put on speaker,” Eren laughs, snorting even louder at Levi's defeated sigh.

_“__Hi Eren!”_ Hanji calls, loud and clear, followed by a chorus of “_hi's”_ from a group of people Eren tries to picture in his mind. He has only ever met Hanji and Erwin and is wondering who the rest of Levi's friends are. Levi has met Eren's on several occasions, though mostly to drag Eren, Mikasa and Armin home, dead drunk in the middle of the night. Maybe Eren can return the favour some time.

_“__Hi Hanji!” _Eren greets them brightly, “_hi everyone else!__”_

_“He sounds cute!”_ the female voice trills, “_how old is he?__”_

“I'm seventeen,” Eren shoots in quickly, in case Levi declares him to be twelve years old yet again.

_“__You're fucking a seventeen year old?”_ another male voice asks, his lilt sounding both incredulous and mortified.

_“__For fuck's sake Furlan_,” Levi hisses, “_I am not fucking him_.”

Eren can feel the heat blasting in his face, further helped along with his too hot costume and already generous consumption of alcohol.

“I have a boyfriend, actually,” Eren interjects with all the liquid bravado he can muster.

_“__Oooh, is he cute too?”_ the woman asks, sounding much closer to the microphone now.

Eren is standing in the kitchen where the blast of the music and the talking isn't too loud, but peers out into the living room where he finds Reiner talking to Bertie, as per usual. He gives a shrug that the people on the other end of the call can't see.

“He's more handsome, really,” he supplies. “Hey, Levi! You won't believe this, but fucking Jean copied my costume _again_.”

_“__Fucking Jean,”_ Levi sighs, really not sounding as aggravating as he should.

“Right?! Armin must have tattled because this year I really tried to keep it a secret.”

_“__Or maybe you're just really predictable?”_ Levi suggests, “_I mean the Joker isn't exactly original, is it?__”_

“How did you know?” Eren gasps, but is only met with laughter.

_“__Don't worry_,” the woman giggles, “_Furlan went as the Joker as well_.”

_“__You can't really talk Iza,”_ Levi chides, “_considering you're Harley Quinn.__”_

_“__Yeah, but I am Gotham City Sirens' Harley,”_ Iza interjects, “_that's different.__”_

_“_ _How is that different?_ _”_

_“__It's different because I am Ivy_,” a second female voice declares, followed by a high pitched squeal and some giggles.

_“__And Iza and Petra are off again,”_ Hanji comments in a monotone.

“Your party sounds much better than mine,” Eren snorts. There are certainly no hookups between Ivy and Harley Quinn here. At most maybe the Cookie Monster and the Karate Kid will start snogging in the form of Sasha and Connie when they get drunk enough. There are some hollering from the living room indicating that some type of game has been set up.

_“__Why don't you come on over then, Eren?”_ Hanji suggests, making Eren's heart leap with excitement.

_“__We can't do that_,” Levi objects, instantly crushing the spark of joy, “_we're adults and we're supposed to __**not**_ _encourage underage drinking, remember?__”_

_“__Look at it this way_,” Hanji says in their lecturer voice, “_if he's drinking here we can more easily monitor his intake, and we know in which toilet he'll crash tonight. Honestly, we'd be negligent if we __**didn't**_ _invite him to this party.__”_

_“__Who are we inviting?”_ Erwin's voice booms in the background.

_“__Hanji wants to drag Eren along,”_ Levi replies, still sounding thoroughly unimpressed.

_“__Isn't he only about twelve?”_ Erwin asks confused, and Eren can't help but let out a long, annoyed sigh that ends with a growl. If Erwin hadn't been built like a brick house and saved both his and Mikasa's life at no cost, Eren would be tempted to punch that chiselled jaw.

_“__I want to meet this Eren guy!”_ Iza yells, “_let's go and pick him up!__”_

“Yeah, Levi, come and pick me up,” Eren simpers. The fact that Levi has yet to hang up on the call tells Eren that he's about to get swayed.

_“__Tsk, fine,”_ Levi inevitably growls. “_Meet us at the central station in half an hour.__”_

“Fucking yes!” Eren hollers, already half way ready to put his shoes and jacket on and storm out the door and into the dark and chilly October night.

  
  


  
  


**Year 3**

  
  


**Six weeks later**

December

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Kid?_ _”_

“Are you doing anything for Christmas?”

_“_ _The usual I suppose, I haven't really thought about it yet._ _”_

“You see... Hannes, Mikasa and I wanted to sort of invite you for Christmas dinner? If you're not busy?”

_“_ _Christmas dinner?_ _”_

“Yeah! I dunno, like a thank you? For helping us earlier this year with everything and... I'd sort of really like celebrating Christmas with you... so.”

_“_ _What was that? You're mumbling._ _”_

“I said, I'd really like to celebrate Christmas with you.”

_“_ _Oh? Hm. Sure._ _”_

“Yeah?”

_“_ _Yeah._ _”_

“I'll tell Hannes and Mikasa, then. They'll be really excited y'know?”

_“Why do I have a feeling you forced them into this?_ _”_

“I did not! It was Hannes' suggestion, actually.”

_“Hm, alright.”_

“Love you, Levi.”

_“… _ _brat._ _”_

“Huh?”

_“I said, you're an insufferable brat.”_

“Oh, I thought you said 'I love you too, brat'.”

_“Tsk.”_

  
  


**Two months later**

Valentine's Day

  
  


“Hey... Levi.”

_“_ _Hi._ _”_

“You want to know what's fucked up?”

_“_ _Except the usual?_ _”_

“Yeah...”

Lying on his side in the unmade bed, Eren curls up around the phone. Its light is the only thing shining in the dark room, the display showing him the picture of Levi that he set as his contact info ages ago. They had been out eating hamburgers with Hanji and in the picture Hanji is trying to force a fry dipped in strawberry milkshake into Levi's mouth. He looks suitably disgusted and horrified and the picture never fails to lighten Eren's mood, even if just a little.

_“__Isn't it Valentines today? Why are you calling me?” _Levi asks quietly. There are muted voices in the background, but the sound of blasting guns and screaming tells Eren that it is merely the TV.

“That's the fucked up part,” Eren mutters. He wanted to talk to someone, specifically he wanted to talk to Levi, but now the mortification of the entire ordeal is settling in. The emotions around what has happened feels impossible to form into words.

_“__Reiner didn't take you out on a date, then?”_ Levi continues to ask, uncharacteristically soft.

“No... Well, he did. I guess. It was our one year anniversary today, you know?”

_“_ _You do like anniversaries._ _”_

“Yeah... well. Reiner he... uh. I guess it's just going to be that one anniversary...”

_“_ _You broke up on Valentines?_ _”_

“Mhm... he... uh. He said it was a long time coming, that he wanted to try one more date, but that he couldn't fake it anymore.”

_“_ _What?_ _”_

“Yeah...” Eren gasps in a long breath. He feels like he should be crying, but his eyes are dry. “Apparently him and Bertie has been dating for a while.”

_“_ _Excuse me, _ _ **what** _ _?_ _”_

“So, Reiner broke up with me on Valentine's day, which is also our anniversary, by revealing that he's been cheating on me for a half a year.”

_“_ _Did you at least sock the fucken' twat?_ _”_

A laugh escapes Eren to his surprise, and the strange sound seems to release something in him, ending with a sob. He is just so fucking embarrassed. Everyone probably knows. He has to be the last person in their friend group to realise what is going on. Like the fucking idiot that he is. He doubts Mikasa or Armin knows, though, they have had his back at least, and would have informed him if they suspected anything. But maybe Connie and Sasha knows? Most probably Jean and definitely Annie. She sticks to Reiner and Bertie like glue most of the time.

“I didn't punch him, I was just too shocked to do much of anything,” Eren admits. “I can't believe I'm this fucking stupid. Is it even allowed to be so dumb?”

_“__Yeah, trusting your partner and not immediately going to the worst case scenario sure makes you dumb,”_ Levi mutters sarcastically, but there are no real venom in his voice. Rather, it's mellow and comforting. Levi must have calmed down quickly from his initial outburst, which is also why Eren called him in the first place. Mikasa would have gone on a murdering rampage and Armin would just be so upset by the entire thing. In either scenario Eren would have to either calm someone down or comfort them, and he just doesn't have the energy for that right now.

“They probably all knew,” Eren sighs, voicing his worst fear. “Fucking Jean probably knew.”

_“__Fucking Jean is a twat, but I don't think he's malicious,”_ Levi interjects. “_If anything, Jean strikes me as the type who wouldn't hesitate to tell you something was going on.__”_

Eren mulls over Levi's words for a while and has to grudgingly agree. Jean McHorseface has been a thorn in his side since kindergarten, but he's a loyal friend regardless. He had caught Eren stealing a Snickers bar at the store once, but when he had inevitably gotten caught with it Jean had stepped up and told the clerk that he'd hid the bar in Eren's pocket to mess with him. It was a blatant lie, of course, but they had gotten away without any parents getting called. Jean will have his back, Eren is sure of it.

“You're right,” Eren sniffs, somehow feeling better about it. Mikasa, Armin and Jean are on his side, and Connie and Sasha are probably too preoccupied with their own thing to have notice anything out of the ordinary. That only left Annie, who probably had known... and maybe Christa and Ymir too, now that he thinks about it. Though he rarely spends any time with either of them as of late. With a start, Eren realises that he's been more distraught over the idea of losing his friends rather than the fact that he just lost Reiner.

Their group of friends will surely split after this, but the ones closest to him will stick with him. He isn't alone after all.

_“__Want to come over and play some games?”_ Levi asks, “_and since you're eighteen in a few weeks and all we can have some beers.__”_

“Really? Yeah!” Eren gushes and is up and out of bed in an instant. It's already dark outside, the winter sun having set even if it's barely past half past six in the afternoon. “You gonna pick me up?”

_“_ _Sure, you lazy piece of shit. What did I teach you how to drive for, anyway?_ _”_

“Hey! Hannes is working night shift so he's got the car.”

_“_ _Whatever._ _”_

  
  


  
  


**Six weeks later**

30th of March

  
  


“Hey... Levi?”

_“_ _What have I told you about calling me while drunk?_ _”_

Eren is sitting down, he knows that, but... where? There are walls around him. Someone has scrawled all over these walls. Oh, that's right, he's sitting on the toilet in a cubicle. The flimsy door in front of him careens dangerously to the left and with effort he manages to right himself up again.

“I'm... sum'thin' is wrong,” Eren mutters. His mouth feels numb and it demands all of his concentration to move his lips and tongue in a way that forms somewhat coherent words. Somewhere in his mind he's lucid and freaking out, but his body isn't responding to it. With a thunk his forehead hits the door in front of him, but he has a steel grip on the phone to his ear.

_“__Eren!”_ Levi's voice snaps like a whip, startling Eren's thoughts back into line. “_I asked you what was going on_?”

“I dunno,” Eren slurs. “I- don't feel good.”

_“_ _How much have you been drinking?_ _”_

“Uhm... not that much? Like...” Eren trails off, trying to remember. A beer, a shot... a drink. It had been orange. It had tasted of oranges too. Bitter. He's so tired, he just wants to lie down on the floor and sleep. Levi would hate that. It's dirty here. “I won't sleep on the floor- pr'mise.”

_“__Eren, for fuck's sake_,” Levi growls impatiently. “_Where are you?__”_

Peering around himself, Eren has to redo his previous evaluation since he has already forgotten, but he eventually comes to the same conclusion as before.

“I'm in the bathroom,” he says slowly, trying to force his sluggish tongue to follow. “I don't feel right, Levi.”

_“_ _How do you not feel right?_ _”_

“I dunno... 's- my body doesn't work. I'm so tired.”

With a start, Eren realises that he has nearly fallen all the way over, swaying with his head drooping between his knees, his face nearly touching the disgusting floor.

_“__Are you at someone's house? Is Mikasa there?”_ Levi fires the questions, his voice urgent and demanding of answers.

“No, Mikasa didn't want to go,” Eren remembers. He'd been angry and now he really wishes that she had been there. She'd help sort this out. With effort, Eren begins to pull his scattered thoughts together again. He had nearly fallen asleep again. “I'm at the Underground.”

_“__God damn, __**fuck**_,' Levi swears. Eren can hear the slamming of doors and hurried steps. “_Stay there, Eren, and don't hang up,”_ Levi commands. Eren has no plans of disobeying any of those. “_I'm coming to get you.__”_

With effort, Eren tries to sit up again, but sways hard into the side of the cubicle instead. His head crashes into the wood marred with crude drawings of dicks and random phone numbers, but he can't even feel it. It's so hard to stay awake.

_“__Hanji, wake the fuck up and get dressed, we're heading out.”_ Eren can't really make out whatever it is that Hanji replies, they sound muffled and far away. “_Fucking stop wasting time. We have to get Eren.”_ Again there is a muffled reply. “_He's at the Underground and I think he's gotten roofied or something, he sounds completely fucked.__”_

This time Hanji's voice breaks through, high and worried, “_how the fuck did he get in at the Underground?__”_

_“_ _How the fuck do you think? Those bouncers love underage boys more than the fucking clientelle. Eren, are you with me?”_

The sound of his name brings Eren back from the sea of white noise that has been attempting to claim him. “Wuh?”

_“_ _Keep talking to me. We're heading for the car now so we'll be there in fifteen minutes, alright?_ _”_

“Aight,” Eren sighs. Even talking demands too much right now.

_“__Head inside one of the cubicles and lock the door if you haven't already_,” Levi instructs, “_and don't talk to anyone.__”_

“Aight”' Eren replies again, because that is the extent of what he can manage of syllables.

_“_ _Who did you go with?_ _”_

'Jean... and Sha and.. Connie?'

_“_ _And where are they now?_ _”_

Frowning, Eren tries really, really hard to think. Where are they? They had been talking with some people whom had seemed nice... but, “dunno.”

_“__Stupid fucking kids_.” Levi sounds angry. Eren doesn't like it. Actually, he hates it, it has to be the worst thing in the world when Levi is angry. Chest constricting, stomach churning, head burning and snot running. Eren's wail of agony echoes between the tiled bathroom walls, throwing his own sad voice back at him.

_“_ _Eren, hey, Eren, why are you crying?_ _”_

“Dun want'chu to be angry,” Eren sniffles and another cry wrecks his tired body. He can't remember ever having been this devastated before. He's sure he'll never be able to feel happy again.

_“_ _I'm not angry with you, Eren._ _”_

“Dun be angry,” Eren snivells. “I'm sleepy.”

_“__I won't be angry_,” Levi promises, “_but you can't sleep yet.__”_

That sets Eren off once more, his brain having switched off all functions except the very basic. All he knows is that he's tired and he just wants Levi to be there, so Eren cries about it.

_“_ _Stop the car Hanji, I'll walk from here while you park. He's having a meltdown._ _”_

The fight has gone out of Eren and he must have fallen asleep because he's rudely shaken awake after what feels like only seconds of closing his burning eyes. Looking up he stares into Levi's hooded eyes and deep frown and if he thought he'd felt the depths of despair only moments before, what he feels now has to be the height of joy.

“Levi!” Eren yells, throwing his arms around the other man and squeezing as hard as he can manage. With a grunt, Levi hoist Eren up from the toilet, but Eren isn't about to let go of his chokehold and forces Levi to awkwardly drag him out of the cubicle.

As he's none too gently being manoeuvred out of the bathroom and into the club again, Eren gives the cubicle door he's sure he locked a curious glance. It has been ripped nearly off its hinges, hanging askew and the lock itself is nothing but splinters.

  
  


  
  


**1 week later**

April

  
  


“Hey, Levi!”

_“_ _Hi, kid._ _”_

“Are you seriously going to call me kid until I'm old and grey and walking with a cane or what?”

_“_ _Probably._ _”_

“Well shut up and listen.”

“...”

“I got my envelope from Trost U today.”

_“_ _Well?_ _”_

“Guess!”

“B_y your barely contained excitement I am assuming they accepted you?__”_

“Yes!”

_“_ _Congratulations. I'm proud of you._ _”_

“And Armi- huh? …. you're proud?”

_“_ _Of course._ _”_

“Oh...”

_“_ _Are you crying?_ _”_

“No. Fuck you.”

_“_ _What was that about Armin?_ _”_

“Uh? Oh yeah, Armin and Mika got into Sina, of course. But I am happy for them, they really wanted this and they worked really hard. Got scholarships out their asses, too.”

_“_ _What about you?_ _”_

“Eh, I got a scholarship too, besides Hannes have been putting away a bit of money for the both of us so I'll get by. Will probably have to get a job though, but that's alright.”

_“_ _Sounds good._ _”_

“I'm gonna miss them... but Jean applied for Trost as well and got accepted, so at least I will have one friend there.”

_“_ _Isn't college all about making new ones?_ _”_

“Maybe? I never thought I'd even be going to college, y'know? So... It'll be nice to have Jean along.”

_“_ _Will be nice to have a breather from your nattering as well._ _”_

“What do you mean by that?”

_“_ _You'll be too busy with college shit to be blowing up my phone all the time._ _”_

“Bullshit. And that would make you happy, would it?”

_“_ _Hm, at least it will be peaceful._ _”_

“… fuck you.”

_“_ _Just take care, alright, I can't drive to Trost every time you get yourself into a mess._ _”_

“Levi!”

_“_ _What?_ _”_

“Stop... stop making it sound like I'm just an annoyance to you. And I won't stop calling, or texting, or skyping, and I'll be home for the holidays and stuff. Nothing will really change.”

_“_ _Yeah, sure... I have some work I need to do so I have to go. But Eren? I'm happy for you._ _”_

  
  


  
  


**Three months later**

July

  
  


“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Hi._ _”_

“You busy?”

_“_ _No more than usual._ _”_

“I'm exhausted. Orientation and everything has been a real drag, but we're all settled now.”

_“Do you like it there so far?_ _”_

“Yeah, it's alright. Never thought I'd say this but I am looking forward to the parties being done so it can get a bit more quiet around here.”

_“_ _Hang on there grandpa, are you sure this is Eren I am talking to?_ _”_

“I know right? Who knew Eren Jägermeister could get bored of alcohol and loud music?”

_“_ _And your roommate is not a potential serial killer, either?_ _”_

“No, he seems pretty nice, actually, he's a quiet guy.”

_“_ _It's the quiet ones you should watch out for._ _”_

“You mean guys like you?”

_“_ _Exactly._ _”_

“I am pretty sure Marco isn't a homicidal gremlin like you.”

_“_ _You do have an unfortunate tendency to get very attached to random strangers._ _”_

“Says you, it's not like you haven't spent an inordinate ammount of time helping a random teenager out of trouble the past few years.”

_“_ _You're a bit like those pinecones with spikes on that always get stuck on clothes and are impossible to get off. They just latch on and removing them is painful._ _”_

“Oi Levi, you're such an asshole.”

_“_ _That's what they tell me._ _”_

“Uh, Marco wants me to come with him to check out something. I guess I'll talk to you later?”

_“_ _Sure._ _”_

  
  


  
  


**The Reunion**

  
  


**Four years later**

June

  
  


“You seriously need to get some help, Jaeger,” Jean declares in a voice devoid of emotion. All feelings has already run their course through heated arguments, screaming matches, thrown items and hot tears, only apathy ois left. Eren feels it too.

He sits on the floor in the middle of their small, empty flat. Almost all of their belongings are Jean's and he takes them with him when he moves out. They meet one last time in the cold apartment, ostensibly to finish whatever business they have left with each other, but as usual it ends with an argument. Eren doesn't even notice how angry he is until Jean forcefully pushes him away, knocking the air out of him as he connects with the wall. Not for the first time does Eren look at his now ex-boyfriend and see fear in his eyes. Maybe he does need help.

One thing Eren knows for certain; he isn't about to stay in the apartment alone. It holds too many memories, now mostly bad ones.

Time must be passing, but Eren doesn't really notice it. When he finally looks around himself the sun is setting and Jean is gone.

Eren supposes it's time to go home. Home to Shiganshina.

  
  


  
  


**Four months later**

October

  
  


They say they'll be in contact, but Eren doubts it. They'll probably just send him a soulless email telling him that even though they were grateful that he applied for the position, sadly they have chosen to give it to someone else, better luck next time. Fucking bullshit.

Pulling off his tie, Eren tosses it onto the unmade bed and sink down in his old desk chair. Back in his fucking teenage bedroom, unemployed though this time with a useless degree. Why the fuck did he choose Human Geography in the end? Who needs that? Absolutely nobody.

Hannes had suggested Eren try and apply at some desk jobs at the Police Headquarters where he works since a lot of the guys there knows Eren from old. Of course Eren scoffed at first, but now he's thinking it might not be such a stupid idea, after all. At least it will tide him over and he might stop feeling so god damned guilty all the time for leeching off of Hannes.

Too dejected to open up his laptop, even if it is just to watch some crap on Netflix, Eren lets his gaze rest on the many pictures he has pinned on the wall through the years. He's smiling big in almost all of them, his braces featuring prominently as well as his mop of untameable hair and ungainly limbs. Thankfully he stopped growing in height at one point and began filling out instead, his hair darkening and looking more like his mother's and all acne clearing up. Fifteen year old Eren has adorable chubby cheeks, he has to admit to himself, as he leans over and peers closer at the pictures.

There is one with all of them, including Reiner though Eren thought he had thrown all of those out, smiling and laughing. For the life of him he can't remember what they had been doing, but it looks like they were having tons of fun. Eren hasn't really talked to any of them for years except Jean, obviously, and Armin and Mikasa.

Despite having been cooped up in his small bedroom for two months, Eren hasn't really bothered looking at these pictures properly. They all appear so small and innocent, and yet they had thought they were some big shits. Smiling fondly while he peruse the pictures, the corners of his mouth freeze when his gaze fall on one picture in particular. Familiar black hair and grey eyes are looking at something outside the frame of the shot, a faint smile playing on pale lips. Eren had known that smile. He had done basically anything to tease it forth.

With nostalgia surging through him, Eren reaches out and carefully unpins the picture. It's one of many that he took of Levi through the years, but for obvious reasons this one had been his favourite. He knows why Levi is smiling here, even if it isn't visible on the picture itself. Eren had been the one sitting next to Levi that day, he had been the cause for the man's rapt attention and soft smile. Never in a million years had Eren entertained the idea that Levi might have returned the raging crush that he had nursed for the other man as a teenager, but now, as an adult looking back, he isn't so sure anymore. It had been a peculiar friendship between them, and it had taken him a while to realise that most of his own feelings hadn't been in the least bit platonic. Levi had probably not been _in _love, but Eren is pretty certain Levi had loved him in his own way, regardless.

Hesitating only slightly, Eren pulls his phone out of his briefcase and unlocks it. He has changed phone several times the past four and a half years, but Levi's number has always been carried over. It has just felt sacrilegious not to, even if he never call anymore. Or text. It has been dead radio silence between them for years and now he's sitting staring at that old familiar number. His youth, in essence.

What would Levi say if Eren suddenly called him? Did this old number still belong to Levi? Would he even pick up? Levi hated being called from numbers he didn't recognise, after all. Eren supposes there is only one way to find out.

He hits the call button.

It rings and it rings. Eren sighs and is about to disconnect with a shrug when he hears the familiar voice. How could he have forgotten how beautiful that voice is?

_“_ _Hello?_ _”_

“Hey, Levi.”

_“_ _Eren?_ _”_

“Yeah.”

_“__So you __**are**_ _alive, huh?__”_

“What do you mean? Of course I'm alive.”

_“_ _Could of fooled me._ _”_

“Phones work both ways you know.” Eren is smiling, his cheeks almost cramping up with how wide the smile is. Levi merely huffs at him. “What are you up to these days, old man?”

_“__Shut it, brat_,” Levi replies without missing a beat. “_I still work for Erwin, though my position is a bit different.__”_

“What, so you're like his valet now?”

_“_ _Fuck, when did you grow such a huge pair of balls?_ _”_

“Hmm, somewhere between sophomore and junior year I guess.”

Has it really been over four years since last they spoke? Sitting there by his old desk full of doodles, with the lame posters on the walls and the boring view out of his window listening to Levi's voice on the phone, Eren can just a well be sixteen again. Yet the years are there between them, reminding Eren that he has changed and grown. Has Levi changed as well? It would be strange if he hasn't.

_“_ _H_ _ow was college? You're done now, right?_ _”_

“Yeah, got my degree in Human Geography and everything. Turned out to be four fucking years straight down the toilet, but college in itself was alright.”

_“_ _Only alright?_ _”_

“Well, it's a bit hard to sum up four years of your life, you know?”

_“_ _Hm._ _”_

“Hey, Levi?”

_“_ _What?_ _”_

“They've set up the Autumn Fair over at Shiganshina park this year. Wouldn't it be sort of ironic if we went there together?”

_“_ _Ironic, how?_ _”_

“Well, we met for the first time at the Autumn Fair, remember? Fuck, that's almost seven years ago now...”

_“_ _Has it really been that long?_ _”_

“Almost unbelievable, isn't it. So... how about it?”

_“_ _Sure. When?_ _”_

“I'm the unemployed jackass, so whenever suits you, really.”

_“_ _How about Saturday around noon?_ _”_

“Yeah? Yeah, that would be great.” Why is his stomach nearly cramping up with nerves at the prospect? Eren tries shoving down the cascade of butterflies wreaking havoc inside him. What a god awful metaphore that is, anyway. “Saturday at noon by the Autumn Fairs entrance. I'm looking forward to it.”

_“_ _Hm._ _”_

“Talk to you then.”

_“_ _Yeah... bye._ _”_

Eren hangs up on the call and throws the phone down on the bed before leaning his elbows on the desk and pulling at his hair. So, he has just invited Levi to the Autumn Fair. Is it like a date? No, they haven't talked about anything like that. They're just going to catch up. He's going to see Levi again. It feels surreal.

What will Levi even think about him now? Last time they saw each other, Eren had been a skinny eighteen year old wrecked with nerves because he was moving away from his home town and best friends for the first time. He had cried on that car trip, he remembers vividly, but Levi had kindly ignored it as he drove Eren and all his crap to Trost.

Eren is startled out of his own reverie when Hannes calls him down for dinner. Despite Eren's growing feeling of guilt for staying for so long without any job in sight, Hannes seems over the moon that one of his kids are home again. Mikasa has come home for a couple of weeks in the summer, but she has her apartment together with her boyfriend in Sina, as well as her job, and is currently continuing as a post grad. She has too much on her plate to spend much time with her sad brother and dad.

  
  


Hannes turns on the TV as they eat, as has quickly become their usual, and shifts through the channels. Eren isn't paying much attention, busy analysing the phonecall with Levi, when Hannes catches his attention.

“Look at that, Eren,” he says and indicates the TV with the remote, “that's our old friends Levi and Erwin.”

Eren looks up startled, and there they are, both looking dapper in expensive suits as the blitz of flashing cameras rains over them. Erwin looks like he was born for the spotlight, smile perfect and posture impeccable. Levi is standing slightly behind him and a bit to the right looking like Erwin's ominous, darker shadow. Unsmiling, but with a posture that speals of authority. Levi ia appearing detached, like the crowds of newsoutlets and journalists trying to get their attention are only minor inconveniences.

The rolling text at the bottom of the TV informs Eren that Shiganshina's Mayor Erwin Smith and Councilman Levi Ackerman have again successfully applied for a grant of up to ten million dollars, which they intended to earmark for “_the continued rebuilding of residential institutions for orphans, expansion of the foster care system as well as an overall bettering of the educational system in Shiganshina._”

The reporter is talking about Mr. Ackerman having been in the fostercare system himself while growing up and the camera zooms in on the wholly unimpressed face of Levi.

“Erwin is the mayor now?” Eren finally blabbers. It's the only thing his mind can really wrap around. It is so otherworldly seeing Levi like thin on telly, though a small voice in the back of his mind helpfully chirps in with the observation that Levi has to be ageing like fine wine.

“Erwin ran for office two years ago against almost no opposition,” Hannes fills in. “How has this gone right over your head?”

“Well, I have barely been home,” Eren offers, too embarrassed to admit that he has completely cut contact with the two people who helped their small family so much when they needed it the most. Shame burns in Eren's gut until he remembers that Levi hasn't really done much to keep up, either.

  
  


**Four days later**

Halloween

  
  


Saturday arrives with two more dud interviews behind him, and Eren stands before the mirror in his old bedroom trying to figure out what to wear. Rummaging through his closet he finds, to his great amazement and entertainment, Levi's old shirts that he had “borrowed” years ago for his date with Christa. He had loved the shirts too much to give them back, and Levi had never asked for them. They are quite a bit too small for him now, he realises. If not he would have been tempted to wear one of them just for shits and giggles.

Speaking of which. With a fond smile Eren pulls out the green jacket Levi gave him on that freezing day seven years ago. He puts it on expecting it to be way too small, but it sort of fits. A bit short in the arms and tight across the shoulders, but otherwise alright. It's still warm. Putting his hands in the pockets reveals the treasure of a one dollar bill, a really old packet of eucalyptus gum (it must have fossilized by now), a movie ticket and the receipt from what looks like a restaurant. He puts it all back again and settles for just pulling on a pair of jeans. It doesn't matter what he looks like anyway, Levi will be leagues above him regardless.

Pulling a beanie over his long hair and donning a pair of boots, Eren deems himself warm enough for the crispy October air and hipster enough to annoy Levi quite a bit. A win, win, really.

The walk to the park isn't all that far and it is a truly beautiful day. The sky is a bright blue, the sun shining warm on his back even as the grass crunches with frost underneath him. The dark red and yellow leaves adorn the large oak and ash trees as well as the ground, painting a colourful picture. For the first time in a long while Eren feels excited, and dare he say, optimistic?

There is a lot of hope hanging on this meeting, hope of maybe getting to know Levi in the ways he couldn't before, but of course there are a hundred things that could stand in the way. Levi could be in a stable and loving relationship, for example, or he might still be a jaded asshole who can't remain in anything committed for more than three seconds. There might also be absolutely no chemistry between them. Eren is an unemployed bum straight out of college living with his dad while Levi is now a thirty two year old successful politician. There is still a bit of an age gap.

But the wonderful thing is, Eren doesn't feel dread at the prospect of being rejected by Levi. Because whether or not there can be anything romantic between them, he knows that there can be a friendship again. Or at least that is all his his hopes lay.

As Eren approaches the Autumn Fair's entrance he sees the unmistakable shape of Levi Ackerman. He's bundled up in a large, fern green jacket that looks way too warm, his concentration on his phone as he angrily taps away at it. Black hair fall forward over pale skin, obscuring most of Levi's face, but Eren knows that frown. Impatience and frustration. Something on his phone is exceedingly annoying him.

“Councilmen don't get Saturdays off?” Eren asks casually, glad his voice doesn't waver. He is so goddamned nervous. Levi looks up, frown still in place, and looks Eren up and down. A second ticks by, then another, and then recognition finally dawns in his grey eyes.

“Fuck, you've grown up,” Levi returns Eren's greeting and lets his eyes flicker over Eren once more, this time lingering. “Is that my old jacket?”

_“__My _jacket now. You gave it to me, remember?” Eren is feeling hot and jittery standing there in front of Levi and being so obviously seized up by the other man. It didn't really help that Levi is everything that he remembers and more.

“Aren't you taking the poor college student thing a bit too far?” Levi asks and begins walking into the fair grounds, Eren hot on his heels.

“Not only a poor college student, but now also unemployed,” Eren corrects with a disarming laugh.

“What the fuck even is Human Geography?” Levi questions, leading the way through the faire as if he knows exactly where he's going.

“Honestly? I don't really know. I majored in it for four years, but I'm not entirely sure what it's for,” Eren admits. “It's just a lot of studies on how humans interact, different cultures and conflict solving. But at least I have a piece of fancy paper saying I know that shit.”

“Sounds rewarding,” Levi deadpans, looking up at Eren as they walk side by side.

“You did tell me that college was for people too dumb to make it on their own,” Eren remembers. “I guess you were right about that.”

“I'm right about most things,” Levi agrees breezily, making Eren laugh.

“How did you get into politics again?” Eren asks pointedly. “I thought tact and social skills had to be involved somewhere.”

“You'd be surprised how little social skills are involved in running for offices,” Levi reveals. “I can finally tell fucking Mrs. Reiss to shove that ugly dog of hers up her ass without repercussions.”

“Sweet revenge. This is the moment you've been preparing for your entire life; shoving yapping dogs up ladies' bottoms,” Eren jokes, his heart skipping a beat when he's rewarded with a short laugh from Levi.

They stop in front of a stall, much like any of the other stalls, painted red and with a sign shaped like an apple declaring it the Ciderwagon. A blackboard on the side showcases the menu, including mulled cider and wine, as well as hot chocolate, coffee, tea, candied apples and roasted nuts. Basically the taste of fall in one handy, portable wagon.

“You've already been to the fair?” Eren asks as they get in line. Levi sniffed this place out suspiciously fast.

“Of course I have,” Levi replies, 'Iza dragged me along nearly before they had the chance to open the gates.”

The image of shockingly red hair, green eyes and a bright smile presents themselves in Eren's mind when he hears the name and warmth spreads through him. Iza had been the one closest to Eren's age dout of Levi's friends and they had struck up a tentative friendship, though that, like everything else, had ended once Eren moved to Trost.

“How is she?” Eren questions, frowning slightly when he hears his own voice wobble slightly. He might be feeling all of the nostalgia right now, but there are no reason to get emotional.

“She's doing fine, all things considered. Still in recovery of course, but if anyone could breeze through that like a champ it would be her.”

“What?” Eren's voice grows even weaker as shock settles in his gut. Levi's sharp eyes shoot up to his face, reading the confusion and fear written there.

“Nobody told you?” he questions and as Eren helplessly shrug Levi's lips thins into a displeased line. “Iza got diagnosed with lymphoma a couple of years ago. I suppose about the same time as Erwin started his campaign of becoming mayor. It was a rather..._busy _time.”

If Levi was any other of his friends, this would be the time for Eren to give him a hug and a murmur of sympathy, but because this is in fact _Levi_, all he can do is nod his head in acknowledgement.

“I'll give her a call later,” Eren says instead, “I've been a complete asshole.”

“Hm,” Levi agrees, “though I am not shoving any yapping dogs in you.”

Eren can't help but snort in humour, the atmosphere between them lifting considerably. _You could shove something else in me_, Eren thinks in the privacy of his own mind. He doesn't say it out loud, of course, but he certainly thinks it really, really hard.

When it's their turn at the stand Eren orders himself a mulled cider, since he hasn't tasted that in ages, and a candied apple. Levi settles for cider as well and ends up paying for the lot before Eren even has a chance to get his wallet.

Eren's apple has orange sprinkles on it and it makes him more excited than a twenty two year old man has a right to be as he chomped on it. The gorgeous weather has brought with it a whole slew of families and children are running rampant, high out of their small minds on sugar and excitement. With an unspoken agreement Eren and Levi begins moving away from the fair proper and towards the small river that runs through the park.

Any nervousness that Eren has been feeling in regards to their little reunion has evaporated as they continue talking, leaning up against the white fence lining the water's edge. Eren is tempted to say that everything is back to normal between them, that nothing has changed since he was a confused sixteen year old, but there is one very crucial difference and it has Eren's blood running hot. It is the vibe Levi talked about years ago. The one that Eren thought that he understood, but he realises now that he didn't. It is very much _there_, hot and heavy between them in lingering looks, playful smiles and gentle touches. Levi straightens the lapel of Eren's jacket and removes some lint. Eren brushes away Levi's black fringe from his eyes and marvels at his soft skin.

The quiet water sparkles in a brilliant blue as it reflects the sky above and even through the spicy scents of festive fall foods Eren can smell the wet decay that belies winter's coming. Sharp and earthy, it never fails to stir something in him. The flock of swans that's preening on the water suddenly takes to the skies as one, their white wings a cascade of noise. Something in Eren's mind aligns itself.

Returning his attention to Levi, Eren finds that the other man watching the same event as him, huddled in his green jacket. _We've been like this before. _The thought doesn't strike Eren or unsettle him, merely makes itself known quietly as if he's always known. With a soaring heart and expectant smile, Eren bumps his cup of mulled cider against Levi's.

“Two of cups,” Eren murmurs, “you know what that means, right?”

Levi merely looks at him with a quizzical brow, but there's a calmness mirrored on his face that tells Eren that he isn't alone in feeling these things.

“It means I'm going to kiss you,” Eren continues, further encouraged by the warmth his words sparks in Levi's otherwise so cold eyes.

Eren leans down just as Levi takes a step forward and their mouths meet. Several thoughts and emotions goes through Eren as Levi's soft lips touches his, but most notable is the sense of coming _home_. Familiarity, safety, warmth and a bone deep weariness seeping away.

With his available hand, Eren trails his fingers against Levi's sharp jaw, angling his head slightly so that they can deepen the kiss. A warm tongue tasting of mulled cider caresses Eren's and the hair on his arms raises into goosebumps. Moaning softly, Eren explores Levi's mouth further, sucking on his bottom lip and grazes his teeth against the plush skin there.

Crashing together, Eren realises that Levi must be standing up on his toes to get even closer, hungry and needful. They have a lifetime to share these touches and kisses, yet it feels like they're attempting to catch up on aeons worth of waiting and longing.

  
  


But they're here now, together, finally.


End file.
